


Legacy of the Xel’naga 2: Echoes of the Past 2

by stargatefan_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-02-26
Updated: 2005-02-26
Packaged: 2018-10-07 02:58:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10350867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargatefan_archivist/pseuds/stargatefan_archivist
Summary: Spoilers: "1969", "The Tok’ra", "In the Line of Duty", can’t think of anyother specific onesSeason: Some time between beginning of 3 and somewhere in 4, might becomemore specific as story goes on.Summary: On a planet that could hold the secret, SG-1 encounters trouble.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Yuma, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [Stargatefan.com](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Stargatefan.com). To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [StargateFan Archive Collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/StargateFan_Archive_Collection).

Legacy of the Xel’naga: Echoes of the Past

Sam was bored. Yet again. Daniel, however, was blissfully asleep. If only she could join him in that simple act. But she was wide-awake, and would be so for about another day. One thing they figured out early on was that a symbiote didn’t require nearly as much sleep as a human. In the past two weeks she had only slept 5 nights.

All that time awake had allowed Sam a more bystander role in some of Daniel’s dreams. There was only so much she could ignore with their minds so merged. As such, she had seen some very interesting things. Daniel had a few very strange dreams. There had been one about this styrofoam artifact that hopped away and said ‘zeeky-booky-dook’ whenever he tried to approach. Sam had to wonder if this was a common occurrence for him, or a weird sort of way for him to deal with recent events. How a crazy artifact could do that, she had no idea, but she wasn’t a psychologist. And she hadn’t brought it up to him, she didn’t know if she could without breaking out in hysterical laughter, mental or otherwise.

She also had plenty of time to think, since she couldn’t move around and do much of anything, not wanting to wake up Daniel. Too much time, in her opinion. She had thought about what had happened to her so much that she didn’t know how to feel about it anymore. The shock had worn off, to be replaced with a sort of numbness. It was as it was, seemed to be how she now thought of it.

Sam was fine, as long as she didn’t dwell on her physical appearance. The true one, that is. Imagining the subtle facets of her symbiote body, a term she could think without a second thought now, was still a bit much. The image of herself as she was, with all the various accoutrements: fins that were all but vestigial, various tendrils and filaments that came from pouches around her mouth, and four fangs that were larger and more menacing than she’d like to ponder, repulsed her to no end. To actually consciously think about herself looking like that was... disturbing to say the least.

So, she tried very hard not to dwell. Not that she could block it out all the time, especially when there was little else to do, like when Daniel was asleep and she wasn’t.

In this time of forced incarceration in Daniel’s motionless body, her thoughts had not been limited to just pondering about what she was now. Sam was sure that she’d have gone crazy already if that were true. Especially in the beginning, she’d tried hard NOT to think about it. As such, she had gone over a lot of mathematical equations in her head; she even figured out how to modify the dialing program to increase the locking speed. But, that was also getting old. She needed something else to think about.

What she REALLY needed was to move.

As if on cue, Sam felt Daniel beginning to stir. This was her least favorite moment. She absolutely hated it. Whenever she was already awake, when he woke up himself there would invariably be a moment of confusion. Daniel would forget, though only for the briefest instant, exactly what was going on. There would be a second of sheer panic, as all he would know was that something was in his head. It hurt to know that she could be mistaken as a Goa’uld, that such a thing was possible, even for such a brief amount of time. At least when they both woke up at the same time, which seemed to happen whenever they were both asleep, they’d share in that moment of confusion, lessening its impact.

Daniel’s mind slowly turned over. Sam waited for his still-groggy brain to catch up, bracing herself against what she knew would shortly follow. Just as it had been on so many other mornings, his muscles tensed and his mind was suddenly clear, the fear quickly driving the sleep from his brain. Almost as soon as it began, it was over, but the length didn’t alter the discomfort it brought her.

"Sorry." Daniel spoke out sheepishly, stretching. Just as surely as it would happen, he would also feel guilty afterwards.

**It’s ok.** Sam understood; she didn’t blame him. It still didn’t feel good, though.

He got out of the bed, thankfully still clothed from the night before. She still couldn’t get used to that, either. During showers she tried desperately to distract herself, reciting lyrics to any song that she could think of, or anything that could keep her from ‘looking,’ or more aptly, paying attention.

They were friends. She didn’t want to see him naked.

//You do know I’m not going to stop showering, right?// Daniel teased.

**I’m sure the world applauds your dedication.** Sam shot back, pleased that she was able to make so light of the situation now. The fact that she was even able to consider teasing or cracking a joke was a big step up. For now she had to live with the situation, so there was no use in being miserable all the time.

Then the physical clues of her second least favorite event began to show. Sadly, unlike the shower, there was no way to NOT do this, or to put it off.

//Guess it’s...//

**You’d better hold that thought, if you know what’s good for you.** Sam warned. It wasn’t until you were inside of someone that you realized how utterly annoying they could be. If the Colonel only knew some of the thoughts Daniel had from time to time, he would be proud. That thought caused her to shudder.

//...time to ‘drain the lizard.’// Sam mentally groaned. He had the gall to try and act innocent, as if he had done nothing wrong.

**The doe eyes don’t work on me, remember?** she warned. Even before she could read his thoughts, Sam had been aware that Daniel was rarely as innocent as he might lead you to believe.

//I’m sorry, Sam, it’s a fact of nature.// he defended.

**I doubt that nature calls it ‘draining the lizard.’ Now, would you just get it over with already?** Were she in control, she would have sighed in exasperation.

Even before he opened the door to the men’s room, Sam was busily working to distract herself.

So didn’t need to see this.

Wormhole physics. K over 2 sigma...

Nope, she wasn’t going to think about it.

Add or subtract the speed of light constant? Add, yeah. Integrate energy over...

**Daniel!**

//What?// he questioned. Were she not privy to his thoughts, she might have believed he was truly ignorant of his actions. Of course, she knew exactly what he was thinking, so she was aware of what he was doing.

**I KNOW you did that on purpose.** And to think she had never imagined this side of him before. Whistling the theme to ‘Loveboat.’ That, in and of itself, may not seem so bad, but through their link she knew exactly what was meant by it. He was having way too much fun playing with her. Trying to get her to react.

And succeeding.

Daniel offered up a little apology, seeing that he was approaching her limit, and quickly finished up. She could also tell from his thoughts that his playfulness was supposedly for her own benefit. Especially in the very beginning, when she still hadn’t quite gotten over what had happened, his playful teasing had been about the only time she had been able to ease up. But there was only so much she could take, and her end wasn’t all that far off. Sam was grateful to finally get out of there.

At least the bathroom had been empty this time...

Daniel, in an attempt to change the subject, decided to finally realize that he was hungry. The thought made him just a little jealous as he remembered that Sam never had that problem anymore. She never got hungry herself, her body automatically absorbed what it needed from his. For his benefit, they made their way to the commissary.

It was her least favorite place on base. The commissary was almost always filled with people. Every one of which was aware of her current situation. The base grapevine worked annoyingly well on some situations. If they had to eat alone, she wouldn’t even have considered going there. The stares she knew she would get from people, some curious and others downright accusatory, would have been too much. Airmen and civilians already did it when they walked down the halls, trying, quite unsuccessfully to make it look like they weren’t. Of course, none of them ever said anything, realizing that there were several people on the base, the General included, who wouldn’t tolerate such a thing. Not that they needed to say anything to get their message across.

They didn’t know if they could still trust her. Probably some were still doubtful it was actually her.

Teal’c would be there, though. That thought eased Sam’s nerves. He always ate with them, and with him around people tended not to stare, not wanting to incur the large man’s wrath. It was a nice safeguard to have, as far as Sam was concerned. Otherwise, she wasn’t sure she could handle it. Even with Daniel’s ever-present company, she would still be acutely aware of everyone else.

He was waiting for them just as expected, sitting at a table near the wall. Daniel waved in acknowledgement as he went to the line. Another thing that Sam had learned early, though it wasn’t really so much of a surprise, was that, as it was Daniel’s body, it was Daniel’s tastes she had as well. Some things tasted more or less what constituted as normal to her, like apples and more mundane items. Others she almost wouldn’t even recognize as the same food if she didn’t know. Blue jello, her favorite dessert on base, wasn’t as good, though she wasn’t quite sure how to explain the difference. It tasted pretty much the same, but just didn’t appeal to her as it once had. It was too sweet. Funny how it tasted exactly the same, but just WASN’T. Coffee, of course, was becoming an addiction. If it had tasted this good to her, Sam knew she would have been hooked long ago, not that she hadn’t enjoyed a cup or two in the morning.

After making their selection of eggs, sausage and a large coffee, Daniel went over to the table Teal’c was at.

"Good morning, Daniel Jackson, Major Carter." Teal’c greeted as he sat down.

"’Morning, Teal’c." Daniel replied before tucking into the food before him.

**God, don’t choke on it.** Sam warned playfully as he seemed to all but inhale the meal.

//I’m starving here.// That’s right, Sam remembered, they did miss dinner last night. Daniel had gotten wrapped up in a translation that, as they now shared thoughts, even she had been absorbed in. When he had finally looked up at the clock, he’d been too tired to do anything but collapse onto the bed.

As the three ate in companionable silence, Sam couldn’t help but reflect on this ritualistic event, which no longer filled the table. It was just Teal’c and them, two bodies as far as any outsiders may be concerned. She couldn’t remember the last time they had seen Him outside of mandatory briefings, which mostly consisted of reports on the Tok’ra’s lack of progress on the problem, and their inability to contact the Asgard. Even then, He was evasive to unnecessary communication.

She and Daniel had both quickly stopped trying. Even the archaeologist was fed up with His behavior towards them, and had stopped trying to defend Him. Though not to the stage of avoiding His name like Sam was, Daniel was still less than pleased with Him.

"Is all well?" Teal’c inquired, apparently seeing something in Daniel’s expression.

"Fine." He replied quickly, his eyes taking on a similar appearance to a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

**Yeah, that sounded believable.** Sam chastised.

"Something appears to be bothering you. Maybe I could be of some assistance to solve the problem."

"It’s nothing, Teal’c." Daniel tried to sound calm and neutral, quickly finishing up the food before him. He grabbed what was left of the coffee and got up, not wanting to have to answer any questions their friend may bring up. Lamely, he excused himself. "I think we’re going to get some work done now, since we’re still confined to the base."

Teal’c simply inclined his head, his expression revealing that he knew it wasn’t nothing. The difference from his normal appearance, just a slight softening around the eyes, would have been indistinguishable if they weren’t so good at reading him. But he didn’t press, so they didn’t offer.

*

Paperwork. On a good day, he could completely avoid it. Spending two weeks on the base, however, meant that it couldn’t be dodged for long. So, Jack sat before the computer screen, willing himself to type up one of the many waiting mission reports. Despite all the free time, he couldn’t get his head to cooperate.

At first, the mission reports had just been an excuse. He figured that if he stayed in his office, he didn’t have to worry about running into Them. The awkward moments, as they quite purposely didn’t talk to each other, he could live without. The distraction wasn’t working according to plan. Whenever he entertained the idea of typing something up, he’d start thinking about Them.

Then he’d start to get angry.

Very angry.

He had been rejected, almost denied the chance of saying goodbye. Carter could have died, maybe even Daniel as well, and would have if Jacob hadn’t responded so quickly. He had been very clearly shown his worth. Apparently all these years together had meant absolutely nothing.

He was also avoiding Teal’c. Why would they be perfectly fine with Teal’c, but so callous towards him? Were they really that angry with him about what had happened? Wouldn’t they be more understanding? Even if he couldn’t accept it from them, he had been expecting some sort of forgiveness. Because that’s what they did, forgave people. So why not him? Jack hadn’t thought Daniel nor Carter were capable of holding a grudge, except against the Gould, and that was understandable. Well, he had thought he knew a few things about them, but obviously had been very wrong.

Why the hell did she have to go and touch something? She knew better. Daniel was the one who couldn’t keep his hands off of anything. That thought caused him to bang his fist on the unsuspecting keyboard, a previously undiscovered word appearing on the monitor before him.

‘uihjk’

Jack couldn’t help but study the newly formed word. Arabic, he concluded, for extremely pissed. Described him quite well.

Seeing that this report wouldn’t give him the sanctuary he so craved, Jack decided to put his attention towards something else. He COULD leave the base, take a few days to go up to his cabin and fish, but for something held him back. It wasn’t apparent to him what, and he didn’t want to think about it as, inevitably, his thoughts would turn back towards Them. His mind probably thought that would be abandoning them, something he shouldn’t give a damn about right now. Even so, it still stopped him. Needing to get out of the mountain, but with conventional means cut off, he went to Hammond’s office.

The General, ironically enough, was working on the same thing that Jack had just given up, he noted from a glance through the window. After the quick knock, he waited for the gruff ‘enter’ before going inside.

"Colonel." Hammond acknowledged, setting down the report he had been reading.

"Sir." He replied, standing before the desk.

"Is there something I can do for you?"

"Well, yes, sir. You could put SG-1 back on rotation." Jack stated evenly. Sure, it meant he’d have to be around Them, but on a mission things were different. They’d all have their parts to play. Rolls he was certain they were all so good at that they could manage it without thinking. Hopefully there would be enough of a distraction off-world so that he could try to think about something other than this mess for a few moments.

"I don’t think that’s a good idea, son." The General replied solemnly, leaning forward over his desk, arms clasped before him.

"The doc hasn’t found anything wrong with them. It’s been two weeks, sir." Jack refuted, knowing that Hammond would know exactly who he was talking about.

"It’s not their physical condition that’s my main concern at this point."

He couldn’t help the quirk in his brow at that statement. "Sir?"

"Jack, don’t play dumb with me." Hammond sighed. "I don’t know how covert you may think you’re being, but you’d have to be blind not to see the hostility between you and Doctor Jackson and Major Carter."

"Hostility is a strong word." He informed the General in his usual playful manner. "The dynamic of the team is... off kilter right now, and I think the best way to get back into the swing of things is to go out and do what we do." Jack tried to assure the General.

"Off kilter?" he responded skeptically.

"Yes, sir. Off kilter. In the rough. Thrown for a loop. Turned upside down. Nothing that a good mission can’t cure." He rocked back on his heels, hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Jack." He stated wearily.

"General?"

"What do you take me for?" Hammond asked simply.

"Beg your pardon?"

"You really expect me to believe that?"

Damn, just how did he respond to that? He couldn’t very well lie to the man. And telling the truth would mean that he’d be going nowhere. "Um..."

"There is more to this than being ‘off kilter.’"

"With all due respect..." Jack began.

"Don’t try to deny it. You’ve hardly said two words to them in these two weeks. I’m not sure who started it, and frankly, I don’t give a damn. If you want to return to the active list, something is going to have to change." The firm stare Jack received was more than enough to tell him that he wasn’t going to get anywhere by further arguing.

"Yes, sir." Jack responded with audible resentment, saluted smartly, and then made his way out of the office. He could hear the General’s sigh accompany him out the door.

Since the General wasn’t going to help, he decided to try and vent some steam in the gym.

*

If, by some miraculous reason, Hammond had missed the strain on his flagship team before, it was more than obvious now. He continued to look out of the still-open door of his office, trying to think of any way the previous discussion could have gone differently. Possible scenarios involving yelling and brig time came to mind, but nothing constructive.

Slumping heavily back into his seat, the General picked up the abandoned report on his office, fighting the urge to laugh at the idea of doing paperwork just then. It didn’t become a general to act foolishly, but at that moment that was just what he wanted to do. A deep, over-exuberant laughter that couldn’t be caused by anything positive.

SG-1 was coming apart, and he had no idea what could be done to change it.

*

Teal’c sat in the middle of his quarters, completing his kel’no’reem. As it had been since their return from the eventful mission, the state was difficult to attain. When he tried, his thoughts would wander to that moment by the statue. 

The moment where he had failed in his duty.

This time though, his mind kept returning to the few words he had shared with Daniel Jackson and Major Carter that morning. It was obvious something was bothering them, and he had a pretty good clue what it was. Or who it was. O’Neill continued to act very stiffly around them, when he was around at all. In return they had adopted the same attitude towards him.

It was most regrettable, and he didn’t see anything changing in the near future.

As finished with the session as he would be, Teal’c got up and began to extinguish the candles that he used for the ceremony. When that was done, he made his way to find Daniel Jackson and Major Carter. Having made it his personal duty to aid them in any way that may be required, he was rarely not around them. His guilt, mingling with the knowledge of how difficult this must be for them, had made it impossible for him to stay away. Knowing them as well as he did, as well as being around more often than not in these few weeks, he knew that they would either be in Daniel Jackson’s office or Major Carter’s lab.

He found them in her lab. Stopping in the doorway, he watched as she leaned over some device brought back by another team, back facing the entrance. Teal’c couldn’t help the amusement that he felt at watching the archaeologist’s body doing something that was very uncharacteristic of him. The position was not dissimilar to the one Daniel Jackson often took when pouring over some artifact, but the sounds of compartments being opened and fine connections toyed with made him very aware that this was not an artifact that he would usually fuss over.

"How long are you going to stand there?" the symbiote voice suddenly questioned. The sound didn’t phase him one bit, he had served the Goa’uld most of his life and was more than used to the resonance. What had been difficult was attaching it to Major Carter. It had taken him a few days to get accustomed to her having that voice, but he’d hidden his discomfort from her during that time.

Even if she didn’t hear him approach, she could still sense his own symbiote. Whether the machine automatically added the naquadah to one’s makeup, or if it was there only because of her previous hosting, remained unclear. Taking the offer for what it was, he entered the room and stopped beside her. He just stood and watched as she worked on the dark gray, palm-sized cube in her hand. Tiny filaments, no wider than a strand of hair, were visible inside of compartments that had been opened, some darkly scored while others were completely split. "The device is damaged?"

"Yeah. Probably some sort of overload. I’m trying to repair all of these connections, but there are so many." To drive her point home, she opened up another side, revealing even more damaged wires. He took that to mean each side of the device had a similar compartment.

"Is there any indication as to its function?"

"Scans indicate a large crystal inside that can hold vast amounts of information. I think it’s some sort of archive or database. Of course, I won’t know for sure until I get it working."

Silence descended again as she use the tweezers to pluck out a wire that was completely blown, replacing it with a new connection. Teal’c simply watched as she attached the ends of the precut strand into the broken one’s place.

Something about the scene was bugging him, but despite his excellent sight Teal’c had a hard time placing it. It wasn’t the fact that it was Daniel Jackson’s body doing Major Carter’s work, though that was definitely strange enough on its own.

He realized that it was the glasses that were most out of place. They didn’t fit the scene. It was seeing a host wearing glasses that had been bugging him. Teal’c knew that poor vision was something a symbiote could easily heal, but Major Carter had no idea how to do such a thing. It was a most unfortunate twist to this whole situation. Though she was now a symbiote, she had virtually no idea HOW to be one.

After several minutes of working, Major Carter put down the tweezers and cube, directing her attention to Teal’c.

"Ok, spill it." She stated calmly.

He understood the meaning, having learned much about Tau’ri speech in his time with them, but still he raised his eyebrow questioningly. Exactly what she wanted him to ‘spill’, he wasn’t sure.

She elaborated when it was apparent he wasn’t going to answer. "You’ve been around us a lot lately."

"I merely wish to be of assistance." He replied, hoping it would be enough to stall any further inquiry.

Her thoughtful look told him that wouldn’t be so. "It’s not your fault, you know."

"It is." To say he hadn’t been expecting them to put it together would have been a lie. They weren’t stupid, and after these years of working together could tell when something was bothering him. In fact, he would have been surprised if they didn’t understand why he remained close at hand. What had happened was his fault, and no matter how much he desired the turnout to be different, they were all stuck with the result.

"Teal’c." She sighed deeply, the resonance seeming to fill the room. Her countenance was full of frustration. Major Carter wished him to think otherwise about his guilt.

"I should have been more diligent in my duties." Teal’c explained, trying to get her to understand.

"And I shouldn’t have touched that statue. Do you blame me, too?"

"I do not." Teal’c instantly replied. Even before she had told him about her disconnected feeling at that moment, he didn’t blame her. Major Carter was not in complete control. Even if she had been, he was the protector. HE should have done something.

"You were just as unsuspecting as I was. Unless you blame me, too, you can’t blame yourself. I would rather that any idea of blame was forgotten, though." One thing Teal’c wasn’t used to was the tone of a symbiote being so gentle. The Goa’uld never cared about anything but power, and he hadn’t even heard a Tok’ra speak so softly before, though he was sure they were far more capable of it than their enemies.

They didn’t want him to blame himself, their unanimity in this was certain. It wasn’t that easy for Teal’c. He couldn’t forgive himself so simply, even if Major Carter and Daniel Jackson could. Knowing that they wanted something from him before they would be satisfied, he thought of an appropriate response. "I will try."

Apparently, his reply was tolerable, and she graced him with a very Carter-ish smile. Even in Daniel Jackson’s body the gesture couldn’t be mistaken for anything else.

*

Daniel sighed in exasperation as he held out his arm automatically. The needle quickly found its mark and the blood was drawn. Having gone through this ritual so many times in the past two weeks, he found his body going through the motions without him thinking about it. It was almost the same feeling he got when he wasn’t in control, a thought that caused him to chuckle to himself. The nurse gave him a questioning look, and then shrugged it off when an answer wasn’t forthcoming.

**Watch it, if Janet thinks one of us is going insane we may NEVER get out of here.** Sam warned playfully.

//I don’t know if she’ll ever stop running these tests as it is.// It was a ritual they were both eager to end.

"So, how are you two feeling?" Janet asked as she entered the room, looking over a file.

"Same as the other times you’ve asked." He replied, hoping that Sam had missed the slight flutter in his chest at the unexpectedness of her voice, as he had not seen her enter. It would probably help if he didn’t think about her not thinking about it...

**Why, Daniel.** Sam ‘stated’ coyly. Obviously she hadn’t missed it.

//Come on, Sam.// he really didn’t want to deal with this right now.

**Oh, no. You’ve had your fun. It’s my turn.** Well, he should have known something like this was going to happen. Teasing her all those times HAD been fun, though.

//Sam...// Well, he could try and talk her out of it. Or beg. He wasn’t above begging.

**Janet and Daniel sitting in a tree...**

He rolled his eyes at the old rhyme, not even noticing the stare that Janet fixed him with.

**K-I-S-S-I-N-G.**

"Sam." He sighed aloud. The raised eyebrow that Janet pulled off would have done Teal’c proud.

"Do I want to know?" she asked in a tone that suggested she already knew the answer.

"No." Daniel responded, just a bit too quickly.

**She DOESN’T know?** Sam wondered in shock, catching the little piece of information from his mind.

//And you’re not going to tell her.// he warned, though he knew Sam would never do something like that. Just like he wouldn’t do that sort of thing against her wishes.

**Well, it explains why you end up in the infirmary so often.** she joked.

By then, Janet had shaken her head and continued going over some of the test results.

He hadn’t felt it before, they had only recently reached such comfort with their current position, but he quite literally felt how Sam did about Janet. A deep friendship that the two had gained after working at the SGC for all this time. Those feelings seemed to underlay his own about her; an infatuation, crush, or something more. He wasn’t sure exactly what he felt, especially since he hadn’t tried to pursue it at all. Her feelings were different, but no weaker than what he felt. He just never noticed before that he could actually feel it... that he DID actually feel it.

Sam realized the converse. Apparently, they had been too preoccupied to notice this until now.

**Well, the Tok’ra do say that a symbiote and host love as one.** It still was very weird, though, they both agreed. And apparently the feeling didn’t have to be as strong as love, or love in the most traditional sense to work the same way.

//What sort of implications does this have on our sexuality?// Daniel had to wonder about that one. He was most definitely a guy, and she was most definitely not. Love interests would be very, VERY different. And then there was the act itself...

He could tell Sam was becoming uncomfortable with his current train of thought. Well, it was his turn again to push buttons. Some revenge was in order.

//Should we take turns? I wanna go first!// Daniel began. There WAS an airman up on level 14 that didn’t look half bad. Maybe she’d be willing...

**Daniel!** Sam quickly warned. He imagined that if she could, her face would be red.

//Shall we call a truce then?// Daniel offered the peace, not really wanting to see what the next phase of this revenge thing might turn into.

**Fine. Can we change subjects now?**

"Well, that’s everything. Nothing’s wrong that I can tell." Janet informed them, oblivious to her good timing.

"We could have told you that, and saved you all this trouble." Whatever feelings he may have for her, he did only have so much blood and patience.

"I guess I should be thankful that I don’t have to do this with Colonel O’Neill." Janet began, as he was the most notorious when it came to patience in the infirmary. At the sudden stiffening in Daniel’s shoulders, though, she realized that topic was a touchy one. "I think that we won’t need to do any more tests. Everything seems to be in order, as much as can be warranted for... this." She quickly continued. Janet probably didn’t want to deal with them finally losing their patience, Daniel concluded as the reason she was letting them off.

"Thank god." Daniel couldn’t help but sigh. Sam agreed wholeheartedly.

"I didn’t realize I was such poor company." Janet joked, and Daniel blushed at her unintentional joke, which had Sam in hysterics. If she only knew. She was completely oblivious to any of their inner commentary, and was left to try and figure out why he was acting so strangely on her own.

He left the infirmary looking most uncomfortable, deciding, to Sam’s dismay, that the translations he had been working on last night needed his attention. He made his way towards his office. Daniel had only made it a few steps when the klaxons started blaring.

"Unscheduled off-world activation." The traditional statement came over the intercom. It was probably just a team coming home early or something equally mundane, but the lack of any sort of action for several weeks had their collective curiosity piqued, so any thoughts of work were abandoned for the moment and they made their way towards the Gate Room.

"Medical team to the Gate Room!" Sargent Davis’ voice echoed through the hall with obvious agitation. This only caused Daniel to run faster.

He flattened against the wall as the medical team caught up, pushing a gurney down the hall at a breakneck pace. When Janet and her team had passed them by, he continued after them.

**God, I hope everyone’s all right.**

He agreed, wondering which team had gotten into trouble this time. When they reached the Gate Room, two bloody figures lying on the ramp were plainly visible. The other two team members were by no means as damaged as their companions, but their uniforms were noticeably torn and dirtied.

As they got closer, not only did groans of pain become more audible, but they were able to tell that one of the lieutenant’s, neither could recall his name at the moment, legs was bent where no joint existed, and numerous lacerations appeared to adorn his body. Captain Tellers, as Sam supplied, was the other that looked worse for wear. He appeared to have sustained some sort of head injury. A large knot, still weeping blood, was plainly visible just above his temple.

"What happened?" Daniel asked as the medics prepared the two men for transport to the infirmary.

"Rockslide." Colonel Alder, the leader of SG-8, replied simply. The man was obviously more worried about the state of his team than any questions that Daniel might have about it, to which he couldn’t blame the man.

**Maybe we should get out of the way.** Sam suggested, and he once again agreed. They left the Gate Room, dodging the working medics.

*

Hammond waited for SG-1 to enter the briefing room. He was by no means an expert on such things, but what SG-8 had described, the ones that were able to give a debriefing at the moment, sounded like something he had heard of before. The video footage had confirmed it for him.

Doctor Jackson, Major Carter and Teal’c were the first to arrive, all obviously not sure why they were called into SG-8’s debriefing. Nothing was said though, as they took their seats. Hammond guessed that at the moment Jackson was in charge, as the man reached out to pour himself a cup of coffee.

He froze mid-sip when Colonel O’Neill entered the room. It didn’t take him long to recover, suddenly finding the tabletop interesting, but it was more than long enough for the General to notice. To Jack’s credit, probably after much mental preparation, he entered casually, offering those at the table a curt nod and a ‘sir’ to Hammond. The Colonel sat beside Alder, creating a distinct division at the table.

He definitely couldn’t miss that.

"I’ve asked you to attend this debriefing because it seems that SG-8 stumbled across something that may be of considerable interest. Lieutenant Gale." Hammond prompted.

"Sir," the officer began a bit nervously, "Um, before we encountered the rockslide, we found a cave. Inside were scattered bones and writing along the walls."

"Since we’re not a scientific team, we decided to take some video for the people back home to study. The cave was probably much larger, but a cave-in has blocked the rest off at some point." Alder finished.

At a signal from the General, the lights dimmed and a playback began on one of the monitors. The shaky picture didn’t reveal much at first, the cave being dark except for the flashlights wielded by the various members of SG-8. Since the sound was muted, only two people in the room knew exactly what was being said, but as a flashlight pointed to something on the ground, the basic gesture was obvious to all. The camera swept over to follow the beam of the light, coming to rest on a very worn skeleton. Though the elements and time had done their bit to break apart the frame, there was enough left intact to determine one thing.

It wasn’t human.

Fragments of four arms were just able to be made out. The General wasn’t surprised to hear a suppressed gasp from one side of the table, knowing at that moment his assessment had been correct. A few more skeletons were found, scattered randomly and in different states of composition. Then the camera swept over some pieces of writing, flowing symbols that he had only seen once before.

The archaeologist responded almost breathlessly. "It’s them."

"Well, WAS them." Jack shot back. The caustic tone was harsh, even for him. The members of SG-8 were taken aback by his statement, as well as the General and the others. Hammond gave Jack a warning glare.

Apparently, his previous words hadn’t gotten through to the man.

"General, we HAVE to go back there." Daniel wasted no time in voicing. The General knew that ‘we’ referred to SG-1, Jackson specifically.

"Doctor Jackson, I thought you said that you couldn’t translate this language without some sort of reference."

"Well, that’s true, but we could find what we need there." The eager man rebutted.

"We didn’t search the cave too thoroughly, not that we knew what to look for in the first place." Colonel Alder admitted.

The Doctor had given them a clean bill of health, but with the current interaction between the members of SG-1, Hammond was more than a little apprehensive to let the team off-world. "I’m not sure..."

"Sir, we’re the only ones with any clue what we might be looking for, and Daniel’s the best translator to have working on this." Everyone, save Teal’c, was shocked to suddenly hear the dual tones ringing around the room. Their jumps obviously rattled Major Carter, but she did well to hide that fact, only lowering her head slightly.

What she said was true. And sending an intermediary team would tie up resources that the Pentagon would no doubt deem excessive for the situation. Though reluctant to do so, it did seem the only option open to him. "Does this rockslide pose any complications?" Hammond had the presence of mind to ask. If he was going to send anyone back to that planet, he wanted to know if it was safe.

Jack looked as though he was about to say something, but ended up remaining silent. Whether he was thinking about trying to dissuade the General, or voice some sort of relief of finally being able to go out on a mission, couldn’t be determined. The Colonel wouldn’t let petty interests get in the way of duty though, or so Hammond hoped. They really didn’t have a choice, and there was nothing untoward on the planet.

"I’m no geologist, sir, the area in the canyon could still be unstable. But the rockslide didn’t block things up, the way was still passable." Alders supplied.

He considered the information for a moment. "Very well, SG-1, you have a go. Be ready to head out in two hours."

Hammond just hoped that this mission would somehow get his flagship team back into some semblance of companionship.

*

The atmosphere in the room was choking. Not a word was spoken as the three finished suiting up and readying their gear. Jack was just fine with that; he really wasn’t interested in talking anyway. And if he did, no doubt there would be screaming involved more than actual words. He had noticed the General’s precarious position, and knew that a confrontation would be detrimental in convincing Hammond that they should go out.

He sneaked a glance at Daniel, or was it Carter? That was one thing he hated, not knowing who he was dealing with at any moment. Whichever one it was, his jaw was tightly set and he went about his business very methodically. Obviously trying very hard not to look at Jack.

Despite himself, the tension was threatening to make him explode. If he remained in that room and the forced silence, Jack knew he would start a scene. So, deciding that his gear was ready, he clipped on his pack and made his way to the armory.

He waited several minutes in the Gate Room for the others to catch up with him. Unfortunately, time had not improved his mood much. Not looking at them, but trying not to make it obvious for the General’s benefit, he decided that watching the ‘gate dial out would be a safe distraction.

The process had never seemed to take so long before. Throughout the whole process, he was aware of Daniel, he actually had no idea which it was still, also working very hard not to look at him. Teal’c, well, he didn’t want to think about Teal’c right then. Jack was on the edge enough as it was, bringing another match around the powder keg would have been a bad move.

The technician’s voice hadn’t even registered to him, and he really hadn’t been paying attention to the ‘gate before him, so the sudden burst of the activating wormhole came unexpectedly. He jumped slightly before collecting himself. Looking over, he saw Teal’c favoring him with an unpleasant expression.

Having to get away before he did something spectacularly stupid in front of the General, he waved to the control room and went with all haste, though he tried to make it look like he wasn’t rushing, through the ‘gate. It did occur to him that this mission may be spectacularly stupid in and of itself, given how worked up he was currently, but Jack trusted his Colonel training to pull him through with some of his sanity intact.

The Stargate was located in a wide, open field. Straight ahead a canyon seemed to suck the grasses into it, drawing the plain downwards. It was a beautiful landscape, or rather, would have been, were his mind not on other things at the time.

The slurping from behind him announced the arrival of the other members of his team. Yup, he realized, he had definitely had better ideas in his time.

"Carter," Jack called out, his voice hard, "take point." He figured since he had no idea which one was in control, he would decide for them.

He may have wanted to be around her the least, but it was an unquestionable fact that she was a better soldier than Daniel, especially since he wasn’t one. By that point, Daniel had walked ahead of him, and he could tell it was Daniel because his head suddenly drooped, signaling the change of command.

"Yes, sir." Her voice was equally hard, which made the resonance all the more unsettling. He couldn’t help the flinch, but since she was looking ahead she didn’t see it. By the slight pause in her stride though, he guessed she must have somehow known what he did. It was far from Jack’s first choice to be stuck behind Them, but he didn’t know if he wanted to be in front of Them either.

"I’ll take rear." Best not to be sandwiched in the middle, given how they were all feeling at the moment. He was definitely the odd man out.

Descending into the valley, there was only the sound of muffled steps on the crisp grass. The sun shining directly overhead was way out of character with the mood that was passing between the group below. The fact that the scene seemed to be mocking him just made Jack want to scream.

The walls of the canyon were relatively narrow at the bottom, only about 30 feet wide, and spreading out as they went up. When they reached the bottom of the trench the walls were about 100 feet tall, scraggly bushes and the odd root visible hanging onto the rough rocks. Jack tried to pay as much attention to the scenery as he could, forcing the other thoughts to the back of his mind.

Due to the many turns that the trench took, they couldn’t see very far ahead. It was after one such bend that they came across the result of the rockslide that SG-8 had encountered. It was a small affair, as they had attested, the team having obviously been in just the wrong place at the wrong time. Traces of blood and a small shred of someone’s BDU attested to the fact. Various sized rocks were scattered about the ground, but they didn’t do anything to block up the way. Jack could only thank whatever power there was that they didn’t have to waste time moving rocks.

Being on the planet any longer than ABSOLUTELY necessary was out of the question.

As it was, staring at Teal’c’s back, he was getting some very interesting ideas. All of them ended with some sort of attack to the very large man, be it physical or verbal, and no doubt some serious injury to himself. He wasn’t sure who he was more mad at right now, Carter or Teal’c. Daniel, he wasn’t sure where to put him. Either helpless bystander or conspiratorial collaborator. There was no real way for him to tell whether the man was a part of the friction, or just happened to be caught up in it. Which was worse though, if he was involved, or just along for the ride?

When the cave finally came into view, the canyon coming to an abrupt halt, Jack was seriously considering taking a bite out of the jaffa’s shoulder, and letting fate decide how that would end. He was just so angry. God, going on this mission had been such a HORRIBLE idea, he wondered what the hell he had been thinking. Well, he guessed hadn’t been thinking would probably be a better description.

It was pretty funny in a way, nothing had happened and he was more high-strung than he could remember being on most eventful missions. He decided a pack of jaffa would be more pleasurable to deal with than this awkwardness and anger.

*

Teal’c was refraining from turning around and doing O’Neill serious bodily harm by only a thread. He could hear the stiffness in the man’s footfalls, hear the tightness of his breathing. How Colonel O’Neill could maintain this distraction during a mission escaped him. Such behavior could only serve to expose them to more dangers. Only the fact that approaching the man about it could make them even more vulnerable stopped him.

Was he the only one that could see that O’Neill, Major Carter and Daniel Jackson were only succeeding in hurting each other with their current behavior?

Both sides had some blame in this, that much he knew. Even he had been drawn into this by O’Neill, gaining some sort of resentment from the man. The behavior that O’Neill took around him was strained. The problem was that neither side was willing to step forward and do anything about it. When they got back, he was determined to remedy this situation, once and for all. Right now though, wasn’t the time for such things.

Major Carter switched on the light on her MP-5 and did a search of the opening of the cave. Teal’c shifted the staff weapon in his hand and cautiously followed her inside. The writing that had been discovered on the pyramid was scratched crudely into the walls, obviously by hand.

As the flashlights scanned for anything that the other team might have missed, they were wary of their steps, trying not to tread on the remnants of the aliens that had resided in the cave. The cave-in that SG-8 had mentioned was no more than 60 feet back. He wondered how large the cave had once been and just how many of these aliens had apparently taken refuge within, and from what. Did they naturally live in caves, or was there some other motive for them?

The mood had eased, or so it seemed now that they had other things to focus on, as they searched the cave. Teal’c spotted a narrow offshoot near the back. Pulling out his flashlight, he saw several rocks on the ground, perfectly round and about twice the size of a basketball. As he approached he saw that the stones were covered in writing, alternating lines of Goa’uld and the alien text, and were in fact made of some metal.

"Daniel Jackson!"

"What is it?" Major Carter questioned as she entered the room. He merely gestured at the spherical tablets setting upon the ground.

After looking them over for a few moments her head drooped. "Oh my god, this is it!" Daniel Jackson exclaimed.

"What is it?" O’Neill’s voice rang from outside as he approached.

"Teal’c found something. If I’m right then these stones could be just what we need to decipher this language. I think they’re kind of like the Rosetta Stones. Hopefully we can use the Goa’uld to translate the other text." Daniel Jackson explained, the moment making him forget the feud they were now in.

"Ah, ah!" O’Neill warned as he came into the room, the archaeologist’s hand just reaching out towards a stone. Even Teal’c had to suppress a sigh.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"Should we really be touching?"

"Jack..." the archaeologist began.

"We’ve already learned the hard way that these guys are weird about things like that."

"So, how do you suggest we do this then?" he asked Colonel O’Neill, anger just creeping into his words.

"O’Neill..." Teal’c began, hoping to make the man see reason. They couldn’t do much by just looking.

"Hashak kree!" the harsh call echoed through the cave, coming from outside.

"What the hell?" Colonel O’Neill returned. Cautiously, he peered around the corner, the cave being straight enough for him to see through the entrance. "Jaffa."

"Indeed." That much was obvious to the large man.

"Surrender now and exit the cave!" the same voice continued.

"Jack, we NEED to get this." Daniel informed with conviction, the reflected light from the flashlights more than enough to show the man’s serious look.

O’Neill sighed. "Teal’c, come with me to see how long we can hold them off. Just record everything, we need to leave as soon as the opportunity comes up."

Teal’c followed O’Neill out of the offshoot, hiding behind various debris as they made their way to the front of the cave. He noted with dismay that the sun was already well on its way to falling beyond the horizon, back-lighting the jaffa who scurried around outside of the cave.

*

**What the hell are jaffa doing here?** Sam couldn’t understand that, especially since SG-8 had seen nothing of them.

//I don’t know.// Daniel responded absently as he finished taping one portion of a stone. Rolling it over proved to be quite a chore, as the stone was very solid. And, of course, when he finished this one, there’d be 6 more waiting for him.

"Can’t we talk about this?" the Colonel’s voice wafted back to them as he called out to the jaffa.

"Surrender now!" she took that as a no.

**Hurry!** her plea was punctuated by the sound of a staff blast connecting with the cave wall, the vibrations just reaching them. Return fire from an MP-5 and Teal’c’s own staff were heard.

//I’m trying!// Well, she knew that, but couldn’t help stating the obvious anyway. He just finished with one stone and began on the next.

"Sorry, surrender really doesn’t work for me. How ‘bout a truce? You go away and we won’t hurt you." Came the caustic reply to the jaffa when the shots finally stopped.

Between taping with one hand, and holding a flashlight with the other, Daniel had his hands tied. The second stone was finally finished, and Sam would have screamed in frustration were she in control. The occasional sound of weapons-fire didn’t make things any easier.

"Any day now would be nice!" the Colonel called back.

"I’m going as fast as I can!" Daniel replied, rolling the third stone.

"Faster would be better!"

Daniel didn’t bother to respond, Sam encouraging him to more speed. Not that he could go any faster than he was, but she couldn’t help herself. 2 more stones, and the sounds outside were only getting worse.

Sam felt like dead weight. All she could do in her current state was pester Daniel, and that certainly wasn’t constructive. He didn’t bother to answer her thoughts, both understanding that she was just venting her frustration.

Finally he was finishing up the last stone.

"Finished!" he called out, quickly stuffing the camera into his pack.

"About time! Get your butt out here!"

Hefting his MP-5, Daniel poked his head out into the main area. A staff blast connected with the wall behind him, the chips of stone forcing him to turn his head aside. Despite their return fire, the jaffa were getting off a good number of shots into the cave.

**Hold it!** Sam advised, a staff blast ripping through the space that Daniel would have occupied had he not stopped short. After a collective breath, they sprinted towards the protection of a large rock.

//I think this is your specialty.// Daniel stated as he differed control. She was trained for this sort of thing. Usually archaeologists didn’t have to worry about getting shot at, though that was definitely not the case working at the SGC.

Sam peered around the rock, trying to catch sight of where all of the jaffa were. Unfortunately, the sun had already disappeared, and the light was quickly fading. She couldn’t make out much, especially when combined with the darkness of the cave.

After firing a few shots, hoping that her aim was true enough to at least cause some of the warriors to duck for cover, she ran towards the next outcropping she could use for protection. There was a flash visible out of the corner of her eye, and instinctively Sam curled up into a front roll.

It wasn’t enough.

The force of the shot connected solidly with her side, pushing her over. At first she couldn’t scream, all of the air knocked out of her lungs.

//Sam!// Daniel panicked as she just lay on the floor in the awkward position she had fallen in. It took a moment for the shock to wear off and the pain to really come to play.

"Major Carter?" Teal’c called back. She must have made more noise than she had thought.

Sam immediately cried out once she was able to force enough air into her lungs. She felt the tears beginning to run down her face, her pain filled exclamations echoing in the cave. God, it hurt. Unable to do anything else, Sam remained curled up, groaning audibly.

//Almost forgot how much those things hurt.// Daniel mentally hissed as the pain enveloped them both.

**Really? God damn jaffa.** Sam managed to think between the throbs in her side. She could feel the blood starting to run down her back.

"Here." She groaned in reply, listening wondrously to the distorted echoes ringing throughout the cave. The heat of the blast surely had the wound mostly cauterized, but internally was certainly another matter.

Staff blasts continued to ring in the confined space.

//Can you move out of the way?// Daniel had a point, no need to get shot again. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. With liberal moaning, she managed to roll herself onto her front. Sweat was already beading on her brow, and the pain shot from the wound to the rest of her body with each heartbeat.

"How bad is it?" the Colonel asked.

**Oh, yeah, NOW he cares.**

"Been better." She hissed, pulling herself towards the safety before her, the few short feet stretching into miles.

"Carter." He replied dryly, her answer not cutting it. Good to know he was still doing his job.

Right, details. She could do that. "Side. Probably internal bleeding."

Not to mention it hurt like hell, but he could figure that out by her tone and ample cursing, something she rarely did unless really angry or really hurt. Both were pretty fitting descriptions right now. They could have done without getting shot.

How she managed to drag herself behind the outcropping was beyond her, Sam hadn’t been paying that much attention. Daniel was trying to encourage her through the pain, but she really didn’t remember what he had been telling her, all attention focussed on moving. Thoroughly exhausted, she was panting heavily by the time she did get there. Each breath sent a new wave of pain through her body.

It was anything but good, that much she knew.

*

Wonderful. Great. Spectacular, even. This was so not good. Staff blasts were notorious for their severity. Even if it didn’t look too bad on the outside, you could almost be certain something was screwed up deeper down.

There were at least four jaffa out there. Two people to guard the entrance were far from even numbers, but something had to be done about Daniel and Carter. Any aid they might give would be a moot point if they were overrun by jaffa.

It was all but impossible to track them, except when they fired. With the light gone, Jack had decided it was best to turn off their flashlights. Might as well not have giant ‘shoot me’ signs on their heads.

Suddenly, the staff blasts just stopped. He didn’t know what was going on, but ceased firing as well, and so did Teal’c. Just what the hell were they doing out there? They must already know that they had the advantage, and there was no way they couldn’t have heard Carter’s cries. Why would they stop now?

Well, this was as good a time as any.

"Teal’c," he all but whispered, hoping to keep those outside ignorant of his plan, if it could be called that, "go back there and see what you can do for them."

It was dark, but he thought he could just make out Teal’c’s head bowing slightly. The large man made it stealthily back to their position, Jack certain that the jaffa outside hadn’t even seen him move. Glancing from around the rock, making certain to reveal as little of himself as possible, Jack tried to keep an eye on their hosts.

He wasn’t able to see what Teal’c was up to, but the sounds filtered up to him.

"Major Carter?" he heard Teal’c’s voice question. They hadn’t heard any moans or other signs of life in a few minutes, which had Jack on edge. He really, REALLY, wanted to shoot something.

"Teal’c." she hitched. It may have been a whisper, but the unnatural resonance made the sound carry well.

Jack thought he saw a shadow move outside, but couldn’t be sure if it was an enemy or a trick of his eyes.

"I must remove your jacket." Teal’c informed in a quiet voice. Jack heard the clips from the pack echo in the confines of the cave.

"Damn it!" She exclaimed as Teal’c did something. After several moments of shuffling, her voice came out in almost a sob, the hitching doing interesting things to the dual tones. "It’s bad, isn’t it?"

He couldn’t make out Teal’c’s response. "How is it?" he asked.

"The external bleeding is minimal." Jack didn’t need Teal’c to finish. There had to be internal damage, but they couldn’t do anything about that.

"Oww!" a decidedly non-symbiotic voice cried out.

"Daniel?" stupid question, but Jack was known for that sort of thing.

"Got it in one." He could imagine Daniel’s gritted teeth as he spoke.

Ok, that was definitely not his imagination, Jack convinced himself as he saw another shadow duck behind a stone. And if he still had a basic idea of which stones the jaffa were hiding behind, the numbers didn’t add up. Oh yeah, this was shaping up to be a wonderful evening.

"Looks like we got more company." He called back, just loud enough for them to hear, and hopefully for the jaffa not to.

"You must not fall asleep." Teal’c’s voice advised. For cryin’ out loud!

"Can’t Carter do something?" He knew the answer already, and it only made him angrier.

"She doesn’t know how." Daniel’s voice was faint, far too quiet for his liking. Of course she didn’t know. And defeating the jaffa outside was something he wasn’t going to hold his breath for. So, either they were going to come storming in and probably kill them, or Daniel was just going to bleed to death during the standoff.

Carter not knowing what to do seemed like such a lame excuse.

This would be the second time her ignorance would have the potential to result in death. Even if her limited knowledge was justified, he couldn’t help but be unreasonably pissed. How dare these jaffa come out of nowhere and threaten his team? How dare those stupid aliens make that god damn pyramid? How dare Daniel and Carter put him in this position?

How dare she not know what to do?

It was just so easy to blame her right now. She had had a snake in her head, shouldn’t she know these things? How could she just drag Daniel down with her, couldn’t she do SOMETHING? God, how he hated her right now. And hated the fact that he had no real reason to hate her.

*

Daniel found it increasingly hard to keep his eyes open. Teal’c would occasionally call his name and lightly shake his shoulder to get his attention, but still Daniel felt himself losing the battle.

**Damn it damn it damn it!** Sam cursed over and over again in his head, trying to think of SOMETHING. She was so frantic as to be oblivious to the pain.

//It’s ok, Sam.// Even in his precarious state, he knew that line was very lame.

**Ok? You’re dying, and that’s all right?** Well it wasn’t, but at the moment there didn’t seem to be anything to do about it.

"Daniel Jackson." Oh yeah, he had to keep his eyes open. It would be easier if someone hadn’t tied lead weights to them...

He could feel Sam desperately trying to get her memories to cooperate. Unsuccessfully, he noted with nervous amusement. That definitely wasn’t good, the blood loss was making Daniel giddy.

Sam had never been able to consciously retrieve a memory before. They had only come to her at will in the past, and it didn’t seem to be about to change. Daniel could only watch her frustration grow as she tried to get SOMETHING to come to her, but to no avail.

//This isn’t your fault.// he may be dying, but he refused to let her heap the blame on herself.

**First I get you shot. Then I can’t do a thing about it.** he could feel her mentally pacing as she responded.

//Knowing my luck, if I were in control I would have run face first into it.// he rebutted.

"Daniel Jackson, you must remain conscious." He didn’t even remember closing his eyes.

"’mawake." Wow, making those unwords had been harder than he expected, almost as hard as actually opening his eyes again.

Well, there was one good thing coming out of this, it didn’t nearly hurt as much anymore. Actually that was bad, but he really couldn’t be bothered to care at the moment.

**Daniel! Open your eyes.** Didn’t he just do that?

"Daniel Jackson." When did Teal’c get so far away?

//I can’t.// Opening his eyes was SO out of the question right then. Couldn’t do it.

**Damn it, Jolinar!** Jolinar was dead, wasn’t she? Why was Sam cursing at her?

Nothing was making any sense to him. He just felt too tired.

*

Teal’c shook Daniel’s shoulder as firmly as he dared, but still received no response.

"Daniel Jackson, you must wake up." He didn’t know what else to do. No matter what he tried to wake the man, it didn’t work.

"Teal’c?" O’Neill questioned.

"He is no longer responding." The whispered curse was easily audible, especially with his acute senses thanks to his symbiote. Teal’c didn’t even try to stop the deep growl that escaped his own throat. Yet again he had failed to protect his friends.

For the last time.

The only thing left to do now was make sure that the jaffa paid for their crime. With stealth and speed that wouldn’t be attributed to his large frame, Teal’c made his way back to the front of the cave. He could just make out faint outlines of armor and weapons poking from behind various rocks. Unfortunately, none of the warriors had placed themselves in an open position.

As the standoff continued, Teal’c couldn’t help but feel his rage at O’Neill build. He could see that the man’s face echoed his own sentiments, but he still had to say something.

"You should have taken action to stop the division before this point." Despite who the fault remained with, and Teal’c knew that it was more than one person, it was the commander’s responsibility to tend to his team.

"I know." The words were simple, calm, but Teal’c knew the turmoil that brewed behind them. O’Neill had lost any chance of making things right.

Teal’c fired at a new jaffa that rounded the corner, but the warrior was able to duck into cover and avoid the shot. Apparently, whatever the jaffa had been waiting for had arrived, and the air was soon full of the buzz and energy of countless blasts. They were hopelessly pinned down by the endless fire, unable to get off any accurate shots.

The diversion worked well, because Teal’c only noticed the grenade when it rolled to a stop beside him.

"O’Neill!" though he shouted, he doubted that his words could be heard over the din. He didn’t have enough time to defend himself as the blinding light filled the cave.

*

Ow. Not the most articulate thought to ever run through his head, but all things considered, it was quite a feat. He had definitely felt better. At the moment he couldn’t remember when, he only knew it to be true.

When he opened his eyes only to find the darkness didn’t disappear, Jack wasn’t as surprised as one might imagine. He had done this before. It wasn’t pleasant, but he knew the drill.

Temporary blindness? Check.

Residual pain? Definitely had that.

Confusion? Yup.

Ok, he got one of them Gould flash-bang grenades in the face. They were... on a planet. Very helpful, he chided himself. Canyon. There, that was a little more specific. Rockslide. Wait, no, that was before. Cave. Bones. Balls of writing. Jaffa. Firefight. Carter had been hit. Or was it Daniel. He couldn’t remember.

He couldn’t care. Whichever one it had been, both were dead now.

God damn it! He wanted to yell, shout, and generally curse at anything in the general vicinity. Jack did have enough presence of mind to stop himself, though; he still had no idea where he was. A prisoner, no doubt, but after that he had no clue. It was hard for him to find a reason to care. What did it matter to him? After all, Carter and Daniel were dead, and they hadn’t been under the best of terms with each other.

Why did things become so clear when you could no longer do anything about it? He had been such an ass. Yes, he could admit it to himself, and was actually hard pressed not to. A big, giant, SOB, stick-up-the-butt, ass.

‘Just a little late for that, don’t you think?’ Jack’s mental voice was laced with sarcasm. He would have told himself to shut up, but he couldn’t bring himself to. As far as he was concerned he deserved the harsh words.

They had tried to talk to him, he realized that now, but by then he was so wrapped up in anger that he had chosen not to see it. It was only natural that eventually they had stopped trying.

"Always the charmer, aren’t you?" Jack asked himself under his breath.

"O’Neill?" Teal’c’s voice instantly queried.

"Yeah. Blind and pissed, but here. Can you see?" He’d have to mourn some other time. Right now he had to think about getting them out of here.

"I cannot." Why not, with all the good luck they’d been having so far? Still, Teal’c had senses other than sight, and knew how to use them.

"Do we know anything about our situation so far?"

"I have not been conscious long, and have learned nothing in that time." The undertone of self-reproach was impossible to miss.

"It’s not your fault, big guy." Jack sighed wearily. Funny how it only took the death of two of his team for him to become a philosopher. Or at least to see things more clearly.

"That is not true, O’Neill." Damn that jaffa stubbornness.

"There were too many of them for us to pin down, we can’t help that one of them got off a lucky shot." He may deserve to be miserable, but Teal’c didn’t.

"It is not only that event of which I speak." Oh yeah, he did blame himself for pretty much everything. Jack had forgotten that. Yeah, he had done a WONDERFUL job as team commander.

"For crying out loud, Teal’c! NOTHING was your fault. I figured Carter or Daniel would have tried to tell you that by now."

"They did indeed..." Teal’c’s voice seemed to leave him, and to Jack it sounded like he had been sucker-punched in the gut, such was the sudden exhale he let out.

"T?" instinctively, Jack pulled himself into a sitting position, ignoring the swimming feeling that assailed him. He focussed his attention in the direction Teal’c’s voice had been coming from, not sure what to make of it.

There wasn’t an immediate answer. He was really worried now. Had he been attacked?

"Telak seol." Teal’c finally whispered in amazement. Jack, of course, had no idea what he had said.

"What is it?" he prompted.

"Daniel Jackson..." he heard the jaffa scuffle against the stone floor.

"What about Daniel?" Man, he really wished he could see right then.

After another long pause he finally got a response. "Daniel Jackson is alive. His pulse is weak, but it is there."

Alive, how? The wound was fatal. Only drastic measures could have saved them. "Sarcophagus?"

"No, the wound still remains, though it is diminished in size." Teal’c instantly replied.

Well, that made no sense. If their captor had healed Daniel then the wound would have been gone. Even a healing device would have gotten rid of most of the evidence.

Then it hit him. Jack couldn’t help the immense pleasure as he figured out the answer all by himself. "Carter."

"So it would appear." Teal’c agreed.

Things were finally starting to look up.

*

Blue. Sam forced every bit of her conscious mind to focus on the color. It was light, ethereal, not unlike the ripples of a Stargate.

She quickly stomped out the tangent her mind was beginning on. If she lost focus, she was afraid she would never be able to reach it again.

It was hard to explain, but the color was a command. Well, at least it had translated to her mind as a color. As long as she thought it, various hormones were produced by her body and released into Daniel’s bloodstream. They greatly increased the potency of his own body’s defenses. The internal damage was being knitted back together, the bleeding all but stopped.

There were other, more specific forms of healing that a symbiote was capable of that would require less energy, she knew instinctively, but her memory had seen fit to show her this solution. She was hardly in a position to argue. It was used when the damage was widespread, basically a symbiote’s cure-all.

It had been what Jolinar had used on Rosha after their time on Naetu.

##

It was all Rosha could do to drag herself to the pilots chair on the Tel’tak. After taking a few needed moments to calm her breathing and still quaking muscles, she activated the ship and left Delmak’s surface as quickly as the engines would allow.

Death Gliders were launching from the surface, but the cargo ship was almost far enough from the planet to activate hyperlaunch.

She set a course for one of the Tok’ra’s outpost worlds, one where only a few operatives stayed to render aid to those who had to flee, like she was now. There was no point in giving Sokar the direction to the planet they were currently using as their main base. When the sensors indicated that she was a safe distance away, she opened the window into hyperspace.

**Now, you need to rest.** Jolinar advised.

//And what did you think I would do?// Rosha wondered idly as she rose from the chair, confident that the ship’s auto-pilot would take them where they wanted to go without further interference. She was going to go to the rear compartment where the sleeping pallets were, but her body had other ideas. Rosha had barely taken 2 steps before her legs gave out beneath her.

Deciding that she could sleep just as well where she was as she could in one of the simple beds on the ship, she didn’t bother attempting to get up. Her point was made when she drifted off almost immediately.

Jolinar couldn’t help the mental sigh of relief. Finally she wasn’t preoccupied with their escape from that wretched moon anymore. Rosha was badly hurt, more so than the woman had been willing to admit to herself. Now she had the time she needed to effect the necessary repairs.

The damage, as severe as it was, required a consuming healing method. It would take all of her concentration and energy, which is why she had been loath to do it earlier. Eluding Sokar’s forces didn’t allow for such distractions.

Doing so now would leave them to fate, hoping that allies would get to them first. She would be busy fixing her host, and Rosha was in no condition to look after them either. But there was little else she could do, and letting the damage fester would only worsen the situation. Besides, it was far safer to heal Rosha now than it would have been while they were in Sokar’s palace.

##

Thankfully, the Tok’ra had been the first to stumble across them.

But Sam had ignored that part, it was irrelevant. Instead, she focussed on Jolinar’s thoughts and actions at that time. She had seen that color blue, and instantly recognized it’s meaning.

She had thought of nothing else since.

She didn’t know how much longer she could keep it up, her body was screaming for rest. Nor did she know how much longer she needed to. Daniel had been in bad shape, even now his mind was silent, and she didn’t know whether to be thankful for the lack of distraction, or to worry for the possible implications.

Using every last bit of strength she possessed, Sam continued until her body failed her, and she passed out.

*

It seemed that Major Carter would never cease to amaze him. She had pulled Daniel Jackson’s body from the brink of death. In the cave their situation couldn’t have been any more dire. They had assumed them both dead, or soon to be.

He had felt their presence, but had shrugged it off as another guard. As he was only a jaffa and not a host, Teal’c’s perceptions of other symbiotes wasn’t as fine tuned as the Goa’uld’s, so making such distinctions was not always simple. The fact that there were several jaffa nearby had only served to confuse his sense.

Teal’c was so caught up in his own musings, he almost didn’t notice O’Neill making his way over. The man was crawling on hands and knees as Teal’c had, so the shuffling alerted him.

"Your vision has returned."

"Not all of it. Everything’s still a bit hazy." The Colonel replied.

When Teal’c watched the man groping at the ground, he could see that it was true.

"They’re ok, right?" O’Neill continued.

"They are alive." Teal’c stated, because that was all he knew. Their condition was still far from comforting.

O’Neill’s hand tentatively came to rest on Daniel Jackson’s shoulder, having to feel the life flowing through the body for himself. "Boy, was I stupid."

"Yes," He didn’t need elaboration to know what O’Neill was talking about, "but you have been given another chance. One that should not be wasted."

"Yeah, I know." His tone was very determined, to which Teal’c could only nod.

Long moments of silence went by as the two simply watched Daniel Jackson’s unconscious form. Both were intently surveying every rise and fall of his chest. The small room offered them little else to pass their time with.

"So, we have no idea where we are, who took us, or what they want?" O’Neill finally asked.

"That is correct." They were completely in the dark, as the Tau’ri would say. The pun of the phrase was not lost on Teal’c. Though their vision had already returned, they were still as clueless as they had been in the cave, if not even more so. At least in the cave they had known where they were, and had had weapons.

Their packs and equipment were missing, including their flak vests. Even O’Neill’s boot-knife had been taken.

Now all they knew was this dimly lit, gray-hued room. The light filtered from some indistinguishable source in the ceiling. It was a good-sized cell for three people, and appeared to be well constructed. Teal’c could barely make out the door, it fit almost seamlessly with the rest of the wall.

Teal’c hadn’t even had a chance to see the tattoo of the jaffa that had attacked them, not that it would necessarily mean he could identify the Goa’uld that they served. There were plenty of minor Goa’uld that he had never heard of before. For some reason, he didn’t think it was a System Lord that had taken them, the operation seemed too small for one of them, but he had no real proof for that assessment, just instinct.

A low moan quickly brought their attention back to the unconscious man before them. His head turned slightly and the moans became louder. Teal’c noted that there was no resonance in the sound, Daniel Jackson was the one in control.

"That’s it, wakey wakey." O’Neill encouraged.

"Jack?" Daniel literally croaked the word. His eyelids slowly blinked open as he spoke.

"The one and only. Now, if you ever do that to me again, I’ll kill you." Teal’c resisted the urge to point out the futility in such an endeavor, as Daniel Jackson would already be dead if he did ‘do that again.’ He knew by now that it was just a quirky Tau’ri idiom, but sometimes couldn’t help still playing the innocent Chulakian with no idea of the proper mechanics of modern English.

"Do what?" Daniel Jackson asked, confused. He was still out of it.

"Almost die on me. God Danny, I thought we’d been over this." O’Neill sighed.

Daniel Jackson just shook his head at that statement, the slight movement attesting to how weak he was. The point was further made when he tried to sit up, and immediately collapsed back on the ground, moaning against a new wave of pain.

Teal’c waited for the man to settle before speaking. "What is Major Carter’s condition?"

The archaeologist’s expression quickly turned to one of bewilderment. "I don’t know."

"What do you mean, ‘you don’t know?’" O’Neill quickly asked.

"I mean, I know she’s there, but I can’t hear her. Maybe she’s unconscious, but I’ve never been awake when she hasn’t." he replied, obviously panicked.

"The damage you sustained was extensive. Major Carter may be recuperating from the demands that healing entails." Teal’c explained, though he knew about as much on the subject as the others. Goa’uld didn’t tend to talk about mortal matters, as they were supposed to be gods.

"Probably." Daniel Jackson agreed.

*

Jack felt his chest tightening. He had never been good at this. Probably had to do with the fact that apologies tended to entail talking about emotions. It wasn’t his style. Burying feelings had always been so much easier for him to do. He didn’t talk about how he felt. If he did he’d probably still be married right now.

"Ah, Daniel." He stammered, mentally kicking himself. That was definitely how he wanted to sound. Lost and uncomfortable, how fitting of a commander. He did mention how good he was at this, didn’t he?

"Jack." Daniel replied reservedly, giving Jack a questioning stare. He looked like he was preparing to get his ass chewed, for whatever reason. It might have been the case if Jack was still in the mood he had taken on with them before.

Yup, he really needed to do this.

"I... Ok, I’m no good at this. So, I’m just gonna say it. Here it goes. I... I realize I’ve been a complete ass these few weeks. I know I was giving you two a hard time..."

"Hard time?" Daniel interrupted incredulously.

"Ok, a really, REALLY hard time." Jack qualified. "Anyway, I realize all this now and just want to say I’m sorry." He exhaled, glad to have it over with.

A hiss cause all of their attentions to turn to the door, which slid open. Flickering torchlight from the hallway filtered in, brightening the room only a fraction. Five armed jaffa stood just outside.

Jack looked at the tattoo of the foremost. The black mark resembled the profile of a wolf’s head.

"Recognize them?" he asked Teal’c.

"I do not." The man replied, already standing and preparing for trouble.

"Silence!" the lead one commanded. His eyes narrowed dangerously as his staff weapon came to bear. "You will hold your tongue."

Even Jack wasn’t stupid enough to comment on that statement.

Nodding in satisfaction, the jaffa motioned with his weapon for them to come. Jack gave a look to Teal’c, who nodded in understanding. Each grabbed one of Daniel’s arms, lifting him between them. With the previous warning to shut up, Jack settled on sympathetic expressions as Daniel held back groans of pain. Looping his arms around their shoulders, they dragged the archaeologist between them.

The hallway was long and winding. Gold reliefs, of which the Gould were all so fond, covered both walls. Jack couldn’t read a word of what they said, but assumed it was the usual pompous rhetoric that they tended to spew. Even though they had seen it time and time again, Jack couldn’t help but question it all. Why, when they so obviously had the technology, did the snakeheads insist upon using such archaic lighting? Jack knew the answer, for intimidation and appearances, but it all was just a bit overly dramatic for him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Daniel kept his head downcast and his eyes were scrunched shut. Looking at his pallor, Jack realized that the man must have been feeling a bit queasy. It probably wasn’t the best thing to be moving him around so soon, but he doubted that their hosts would be understanding if he brought it up, and he wasn’t about to leave Daniel and Carter alone, even if they had been given that option.

His musings were brought to a quick end as they finally got to the throne room. The big golden chair in the middle was impossible to miss, the ostentatious design jumping out at the eye. As with the rest of the facility that they had seen, the room was lit by several sconces, which left the inhabitant of the large dais just out of sight. All that could be made out were the rich red robes that the occupant wore.

"Stop." A reverberating voice, male, commanded calmly. They were still about 20 feet from the throne, the features of the Gould still obscured. "Kneel before your god."

The jaffa forced the team to their knees, Daniel unable to stifle the pained cry he let out at the sudden change in position.

"The prisoners, my lord." The jaffa who had spoken before informed, bowing respectfully.

"I am aware." The Gould replied, irritation creeping into the dual tones.

"Apologies, your worship." The warrior bowed again, deeper this time.

"Who is this that would dare trespass upon my territory?" The deep tones held amusement, and the Gould stood up. Jack still couldn’t make anything out, though he squinted hard.

"Nobody, and if you just let us go, we’ll be on our way." Jack responded in his usual sarcastic manner. He was certain they wouldn’t be getting out of this that easily, but couldn’t help returning to basics. Sarcasm, it’s what he did so well.

"You will go nowhere unless I wish it. And be aware, I do not." The man stepped forward into the light, chuckling to himself. No matter how many times he heard it, a laughing snake still freaked Jack out. The tone was unnatural enough as it was, but having one laugh was just so much more unsettling. Especially when you knew they didn’t care in the slightest about your wellbeing, except as to where it pertained to them getting what they wanted.

Jack bit back any reply he was going to make as he studied the Gould before him. He had short, black hair atop a chiseled face. The host looked to be no older than 25, but with a symbiote involved that most likely wasn’t the case. The youthful features held an innate darkness to them. He wondered if the host had always looked like that, or if countless centuries under the control of a snake had irreparably changed his appearance. The red robes that he wore only seemed to add to the darkness, trimmed in gold and brushed against the floor. They just screamed ‘over done evil poser’ to him.

"You know, we’ve been through the ‘big bad Gould’ routine before. It’s nothing special." He KNEW that he probably should keep his mouth shut, but Jack just couldn’t help himself. Though he often couldn’t be bothered to talk much, these sort of situations made it all but impossible for him to shut up. Danger caused him to babble.

"You will show respect to your god!" the jaffa was quick to backhand him across the face, no doubt trying to return to the Gould’s favor. The corner of the gauntlet cut into Jack’s cheek, causing blood to trickle down his face.

"And that’s another thing. Just who are you?" Jack continued. Might as well get some information out of it if he was going to get beat up, he figured.

"Who am I? I am Terak, brother of Tralik, ruler of the Ringed Empire!" Terak proudly informed them, seeming to become larger as he spoke. He was a fairly impressive 6 feet and change.

"I have heard of the Ringed Empire. It used to be a formidable expanse, ruled by two Goa’uld. It has not existed for many centuries." Teal’c explained for Jack and Daniel’s benefit.

"It exists still, though it is not the splendor that it once was. My brother was lost to me on his return from a battle with Sokar, somewhere around this very planet. His jaffa, the wretches that they were, abandoned me and merged with various System Lords. The Empire has dwindled to almost nothing, but it shall not be so forever." Terak’s anger was increasing with each word.

"Oh, that old tune." Jack replied in mock understanding. "Just how do two Gould get together to rule without everything falling apart?" He so could NOT see that ever happening. Not without one killing the other, that is.

"My brother and I were of the same mind..." the Gould had started to walk towards them, and stopped walking and speaking about 5 feet away. "What is this?"

Terak walked closer, leaning in towards Daniel. "You! You are a host! I do not believe it. After this many years one has survived? Quickly, tell me the location of other survivors! Where are the creatures of this planet?" Terak demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Daniel asked weakly.

Terak’s hand descended against Daniel’s face, the tips of the ribbon device leaving red marks on his cheek. "Do not play fool with me!"

Jack and Teal’c were stopped from intervening by the hiss of multiple staff weapons priming.

"I can’t tell you what I don’t know, not that I would if I did." Daniel responded, narrowing his eyes at the Gould. Jack could see Terak’s face getting red with anger.

"Do not insult me by allowing this thing to address me!"

Jack shuddered then, thankfully keeping it mostly mental. Carter was still out, wasn’t she? It was kind of hard to talk when you were unconscious. Not a good situation. This guy was already on the edge as it was, and now things were only threatening to get worse. Just wonderful.

Daniel’s body suddenly slumped down, catching both Jack and Teal’c by surprise. He pulled them down with him slightly before they were able to counterbalance. Jack figured he had passed out, until his head raised weakly. "No. I wouldn’t insult him by making him interact with you."

That was definitely not Daniel. The words were faint, but the resonance was still audible, even though what Carter had said was difficult to understand. Apparently the healing really had wiped her out. She was unable to hold herself up, Jack and Teal’c the only thing keeping her from a less-than-graceful spill to the floor.

"A Tok’ra then." Terak concluded. "I had always figured that it was they who aided these people. The System Lord’s would never ally themselves with an inferior race."

Carter looked like she was going to argue the fact that she wasn’t Tok’ra. Whether she decided that the point was moot or realized it was a bad idea, he wasn’t sure, but she held her tongue.

Terak, on the other hand, was brightening considerably. A Gould in a good mood tended to be far worse than an angry snake. Happy Gould’s had something in mind.

"Well, then, my Tok’ra, you will begin by telling me of the fate of my brother."

She remained silent, leveling her gaze at Terak. There was no good answer, especially since none of them knew anything about what he asked. It was very obvious that he wasn’t going to take ‘I don’t know’ as a satisfactory response. No doubt anything she may decide to say on the matter would be the wrong thing.

"My brother’s ship crashed on this planet, of this I am now certain. I have searched all nearby planets thoroughly and found no sign of him. He must be here. You will tell me what the inhabitants did with him, or where his body now resides!" Terak shouted when a reply wasn’t forthcoming. The ruling thing Jack could almost wrap his head around, almost, but he didn’t get why any Gould would care so much about the fate of another. He’d think that Terak would have been glad to have the competition eliminated for him.

Again, Carter remained silent. Terak’s eyes flashed brilliantly as he turned away. "Return them to the cell. This impudence WILL be dealt with!"

*

Daniel had retaken control as soon as they were led out of the room. He didn’t feel that great himself, but Sam didn’t even have the strength left to keep her head up. How did that work, wouldn’t they both be able to accomplish the same tasks since it was the same body?

**Guess that sending impulses to your muscles is a bit beyond me right now.** Even her mental voice sounded weary.

//You are alright, right?// He could read her thoughts, feel how she felt, so the question was redundant. But old habits were hard to break.

**Just tired, Daniel.** Sam assured.

Daniel almost didn’t notice as Jack and Teal’c lowered him to the floor of the cell. With their help he was able to sit up against the far wall, perched in the corner. Teal’c sat nearby, his angle able to take in both he and the cell door, Daniel noticed. Jack however, was leaning against the opposite wall, looking rather uncomfortable.

"So, Teal’c, you seem to know something about this little empire the Gould spoke of." Jack began.

"I have heard of it." Teal’c affirmed.

"You said something about it not existing for a few hundred years?" Jack recalled.

"I did. It has shrunken into almost nothing since the defeat of Tralik at the hands of Sokar. Apophis would often mention the empire with much amusement, comparing its decline against his own power."

**Is he saying what I think he is?** Sam wondered, the astonishment erasing her fatigue momentarily.

"Teal’c, you mean to say that Terak’s brother has been missing for hundreds of years now?" Daniel voiced Sam’s conclusion.

Terak had been searching for him for that long?

"Yes." Daniel and Jack were both at a loss for words. This was definitely something unprecedented with the Goulds. To continue a fruitless search, especially for someone who was undoubtedly dead now, just didn’t make sense.

"No way." Jack finally stated in disbelief.

"Why would he continue to look if he has no chance of finding his brother?" Daniel wondered aloud.

"Perhaps that is not so. He spoke of survivors on this planet." Teal’c reminded.

"I’m assuming he’s talking about those red dudes." Jack said. They weren’t sure whether all of them were red, but Daniel figured it was as good a description as any.

"He must believe that the aliens had something to do with his brother." Daniel added, suppressing a yawn.

"And now they’re all dead." Jack stated bluntly.

**Guess we’re not going to get help from them, assuming we get out of this mess.** Sam told him with noticeable grief. Daniel had to agree with her thoughts that the aliens probably wouldn’t have written down a solution to their current situation. They’d surely need a living one to help them out.

He was quickly losing the battle for consciousness, Sam not far behind. Soon his eyes simply refused to remain open. It was with a bit of nervousness that Daniel realized how similar this situation was to the one in the cave, a thought he found very unsettling. This was the same sort of disjointed feeling that he had experienced. His body, however, would not be deterred from the rest it craved, continuing on its journey despite his apprehensive feelings. It was only just that he made out the sound of the door opening. Unfortunately, at that point voices had lost all meaning. Daniel was quickly asleep, wondering what had just happened on the fringe of his conscious mind.

*

Teal’c walked silently as the jaffa prodded him onward. He knew they weren’t taking him to the throne room because they had gone in the wrong direction. One didn’t have to serve as a First Prime for a good deal of their life to realize what was going to happen.

The interrogation was soon to begin.

Three jaffa escorted him down the hall, effectively undermining any ideas Teal’c may have harbored about escaping. Unless they were extremely inept, which as of yet their skills had been shown to be at least marginal, he couldn’t hope to overpower three guards and break out the others. Teal’c diligently looked for his moment, though, even if it was unlikely to come.

They took him to a room that was even darker than the hallways or the throne room had been. Only 4 torches, one in each corner, provided lighting. Due to the moderate size of the room, the radiance did not penetrate to the core. Even in the very dim light, Terak’s red robes were visible standing in the nexus of the shadows.

Teal’c was taken to the left wall, manacles glinting menacingly as they hung in the firelight. From what he could see the opposite wall was also similarly equipped, and he could only assume that the back wall was the same. The restraints were obviously meant for someone of a smaller stature, as Teal’c’s arms only hung about halfway up.

"Tell me, what is a First Prime of Apophis doing associating with the likes of the Tok’ra?" Terak asked, his face mostly obscured as he stood in the center of the room. Teal’c had been present for more tortures than he cared to admit, so the intimidating pose didn’t affect him. As for an answer, he wasn’t sure if giving voice, even to refuse an answer, or remaining silent would be better. Though he simply wished to deny everything, he knew that anything he might say would give the Goa’uld more knowledge. Silence appeared to be the best option.

"If you answer all of my questions now, your deaths will be quick and painless. I may even see fit to spare you. But if you insist upon continuing in this insolent manner, the consequences will be great."

Teal’c couldn’t help the smile that played his features. Terak was already showing his hand, getting his temper up. Very sloppy, Teal’c thought to himself. This Goa’uld had much to learn.

One of the jaffa stepped forward with a pain stick.

He knew he could take what was to come, but feared for his friends, especially Daniel Jackson and Major Carter. Would Terak actually try to torture them in their current condition? He knew they would tell him nothing, especially since there was nothing to tell, but if Terak was actually desperate enough to do anything with them, there was virtually no chance of their survival.

*

Jack stood up as the door to the cell was opened. The business end of a staff weapon assured that he didn’t try anything, though. Teal’c’s barely conscious body was tossed in unceremoniously, the three guards waiting at the door. Burn marks adorned his now bare chest, and dried streaks of blood marred his form. Jack really wanted to teach these jaffa and their master a thing or two, but there were too many of them, armed no less. And he had other people beside himself to think about.

He watched Teal’c’s chest rise and fall, a slow but even rhythm. The big guy would be ok, his snake would see to that. Any escape plans, however, would be seriously impeded now. One injured teammate was bad enough, but at least before he and Teal’c could have carried Daniel and Sam. He’d have a hard enough time helping Teal’c get around, much less the both of them.

The bigger question on his mind at the moment was who would be next. Jack was truly worried. This Terak guy was pretty incensed about getting his information, creating a dangerous situation for all involved. Daniel’s and, inclusively, Carter’s condition was bad enough as it was, anything that this guy might have planned could be downright lethal. Did he have a sarcophagus? Somehow, Jack didn’t think so. If he did, wouldn’t he have used it on Daniel and Carter already?

But then again, when had they ever seen a Gould without one?

Jack looked over at Daniel, who was still out, and decided then that if these guys wanted to take the man, he would stop them. Or at least try to. Three armed jaffa were a bit much, even for him.

"You." The leader finally stated, pointing at Jack. Yup, this put a big crimp in getting out of here. Somehow, Jack figured that three wounded people having to lean on each other for support wouldn’t get very far, though the picture it put in his head was quite comical. He could just see the three of them staggering down the dim halls, crashing against walls and torches with equal prejudice. Maybe they’d stand a chance, as the guards would die of laughter.

Better three wounded than one dead, he amended. Right now, staying alive was the priority. Escape would hopefully tend to itself.

Or maybe they’d be lucky enough to get a rescue. Yeah, SG-3, maybe SG-5 and 7 tagging along. A grenade here, strategically placed C-4 there, all the mixings needed for a good party. The mission time, however, hadn’t been firmly set. Would the General try and contact them in one day or two? Just how long did they have to wait for rescue to even become viable?

The sizzle of a staff weapon opening brought Jack out of his musings. Having made the guards wait long enough, he quickly made his way out of the room, afraid of what might be done to the others if he tarried any longer. With a painful prod of a staff weapon at the small of his back, Jack was led down the corridor.

He was acutely aware of the excessive heat thrown from the torches, sweat pouring down his body as the metal on the walls bounced it back at him. This Terak guy really needed to look into central air, he decided.

They led him to the throne room, Terak standing on the edge of the dais that held his chair. He definitely looked less than happy. Two of the guards quickly stepped forward, grabbing Jack’s arms. They dragged him up the rest of the way, stopping a scant few feet from the Gould.

"The jaffa was not cooperative. I hope you do not make the same mistake." Terak spoke, his tone lighter than the expression he wore, his mouth just a few degrees away from a snarl. The guy was a very unhappy camper, to which Jack couldn’t help but give a mental ‘go Teal’c.’

"You know that’s not gonna happen. Even if we DID have anything to tell you, we wouldn’t." A staff weapon hit the back of his knee with practiced skill. The only thing that stopped Jack from a very undignified face plant was the two jaffa holding him up. Damn, that hurt. Doc was going to be pissed when he got back.

"You are at my mercy, it would be best to remember that." Terak leaned in close, his voice all but a whisper, causing it to take on a gravelly quality.

Despite contrary opinion, Jack COULD learn from mistakes, if he wanted to, and stayed silent. Maybe if he played his cards right he could come out of this with at least one working knee.

"We will begin simply. How does a jaffa come into the company of a Tok’ra and a human?"

"Better pay. Benefits. We got this great dental plan, it even covers..." Jack’s rant was cut short by a stinging backhand from Terak himself, the blow causing his previous wound to reopen, fresh blood oozing down his face.

"Where are other survivors on this planet?" Terak’s voice picked up considerably, anger increasing along with the volume.

Ok, Jack could learn, but often he tended to choose not to. "Did I mention the vacations? Two weeks paid every year, and sick days too."

Instead of another blow, the Gould simply raised his hand, pointing the orange crystal of his ribbon device at Jack’s head. Jack was able to watch the stone begin to glow before the energy began to burrow into his head. Before the pain became intense enough to block out other sensory input, Terak spoke with conviction. "You WILL tell me everything."

Not a chance, Jack replied mentally while he was still capable.

*

Sam had awoken before Daniel. It was odd, usually when they were both asleep they’d wake up at the same time. It may have had to do with the fact that it was more like passing out than falling asleep, but all she had was conjecture at this point. Was that normal? Right now, though, the answer to that particular question would have to wait. Exactly how long she waited for him to come to, without her watch or anything to tell her, she didn’t know. She was sure it had been at least half an hour before he began to stir.

When Sam had opened her eyes, it was to see Teal’c laying on the floor. She tried to keep her movements to a minimum, hoping to allow Daniel the rest they both needed. It had taken her several moments to identify the rise and fall of his chest, several moments of apprehension as she had wondered whether or not he was dead. But the relief Sam had felt at that realization was dulled as she realized the Colonel wasn’t in the room.

Daniel awoke groggy and confused. Whether it was natural, or from her stirring, she wasn’t sure.

//What’s going on?// he asked.

**The Colonel’s gone and Teal’c’s hurt.** She informed him.

Though she wanted to wake up Teal’c, to make sure he was ok and to see if he knew where they took Colonel O’Neill, she didn’t know if it was such a good idea. Exactly how badly hurt he was she couldn’t say, and was loath to interrupt any necessary healing he was undergoing.

But she’d really like to know exactly what was going on. Not that she couldn’t hazard a fairly accurate guess as to the general idea. It wasn’t like they had never been captured before.

Sam rolled over onto her good side, her wound and the taught muscles around it protesting the action. Gritting her teeth, with a couple choice exclamations from Daniel as he was still less than fully alert, she waited for the pain to subside a little bit along with the queasy feeling that was running through her stomach. She hadn’t recalled shutting her eyes, but when she opened them up again Teal’c was staring back at her from his position on his front.

"Are you ok?" she asked softly, for some reason afraid to raise her voice to a normal level. The situation seemed to scream silence, not that it was really possible with the distortion in her voice to actually whisper. Well, she could, but the noise level would effectively defeat the purpose.

"My symbiote has already begun repairs." Teal’c responded simply. Not really what she asked for, but it was as close to ‘I’m fine’ as she was probably going to get. That he didn’t say he was ok spoke volumes to her, he might be healing but was still a long ways from 100%.

"Where’s the Colonel?" Sam’s continued. From experience she was pretty sure that interrogation and torture awaited him wherever he was. It really wouldn’t hurt her feelings if she was wrong.

//It would be nice, but I don’t think so.// Daniel thought wryly. She didn’t believe it either, but one could hope.

"I do not know for certain. It is most likely they are trying to get information from him that I refused to offer." What a nice euphemism for torture. From the fading burn marks on his bare chest and the dried rivulets of blood, she could guess just how pleasant that torture would be. "How is your wound?"

Aside from hurting like hell whenever one of them moved, thought about it, or ignored it for too long, it was ok. Ok being a very relative state. Of course that didn’t mention how tired it made Daniel. Her fatigue mostly came from the previous healing. Though they shared the pain, the weakness was all in Daniel’s body, another puzzle that would have to wait to be solved.

"Been better." Sam replied with a very O’Neill-esque phrase.

Which was when the door suddenly lifted open and a very unconscious Colonel was slung into the cell. Unlike Teal’c, he returned with the same amount of clothing that he had left with. The only sign of the torture he had been through was the angry burn mark in the middle of his forehead.

**Ribbon device.** Was Sam’s first thought, and Daniel had to agree. Been there, done that, had the T-shirt.

The three jaffa wasted no time in entering the room. Sam was lying near the back wall, and quickly knew they were after her when they walked past Teal’c, who was sprawled near the middle of the room. She had been expecting it, but any doubts she may have had were expelled.

Two of them grabbed her by the arms, lifting her up without regard to her condition. Stifling the groan that attempted to issue from her lips, she looked at Teal’c. He obviously was not pleased about this, but did not say or do anything, knowing that any action he took now would do anything but help the situation. The third guard pointing his staff weapon at Teal’c’s face probably had a lot to do with his inaction. Sam tried to give him a confident look as she was dragged out, but wasn’t sure if she had sent the message she had intended.

Trying to keep some dignity, Sam tightly shut her eyes as she was pulled through the corridors. The motion threatened to empty her stomach, assuming there was anything left there. If she wasn’t feeling so nauseous she’d be starving. Though it wasn’t really she who was hungry, but rather Daniel’s own hunger she felt. How long had it been since they ate?

//Thinking about it isn’t helping matters.// Daniel informed her.

**You’re right.** Aside from reinforcing how hungry he should be, it didn’t do anything to settle her stomach.

//Well, if you must, make sure to aim for a face.// She couldn’t help but laugh at that one, receiving an elbow in the side, and not her good one. Caught by surprise, she couldn’t suppress the yelp, and she almost emptied her stomach right there. For Daniel’s part, he was stunned momentarily by the pain.

**Bastard.** Damn, that hurt.

Thankfully they soon stopped, and when Sam opened her eyes she saw that they were in the throne room. Terak stood on the edge of the dais, an evil smile gracing his lips.

God, how she just wanted to rip that smile off his face and shove it down his throat. It was a look that promised no good, not that she had even considered kindness from him. He was too pleased with himself, especially since she knew that neither Teal’c nor the Colonel would have, or even could have, told him anything.

The fact that he didn’t try to hide it was also bad.

"My Tok’ra." The joviality in his voice caused her to wince, Daniel sharing in her bad feeling. "Your kind has always amused me. To claim you are not Goa’uld, when it is power that we both seek, is a curious distinction. Trying to convince anyone of your ‘noble’ characters is laughable. At least the System Lords and myself are able to admit what we desire." He was trying to bait her, and sadly, she found herself rising to it.

"If that’s what you really think, then I pity your ignorance." Sam smiled back as she spoke those words, only wishing that her voice wasn’t so similar to his. Physically, there was no difference between a Goa’uld and a Tok’ra, but their principles were as contrasted as night and day. Being so similar to the enemy, and yet so different at the same time, wasn’t the best foundation for such claims. Not to mention it scared her.

She just couldn’t help envisioning herself becoming like him. Though she had settled this fear before, actually coming into contact with a Goa’uld had made her rethink. It may be unlikely, but not impossible.

Sam couldn’t help but shudder at that thought.

"Well, it does not matter. If you tell me what I want to know, I will let you and your companions survive. If you do not, the consequences will be most unfortunate." Terak continued, oblivious to her thoughts.

**Deja vu?** Sam thought with a small bit of humor. The threat thing was old hat to them, certainly nothing new.

//Creative bad guys only lead to trouble.// Daniel warned. Not that the unoriginal ones were a cakewalk. Just because they had been through similar situations time and time again didn’t make a pain stick or ribbon device hurt any less.

And, truth be told, you didn’t have time to be bored when in that much pain.

"Threaten me all you want, it doesn’t change a thing." Such as the fact that none of them had any clue as to where the planets inhabitants were or what had happened to his brother.

Probably both were long dead, especially if what they had already seen was anything to go by.

"You WILL tell me of my brother. And you WILL tell me of the heathens of this planet!" Terak’s distorted voice echoed throughout the room. He walked forward until he was right in Sam’s face. His next words were spoken calmly, his lips curving up ever so slightly. "It is simply up to you on how I get it."

//Ok, this is definitely going to get ugly.// It was obvious that something was up.

**Do you think he’d buy ‘I don’t know?’**

After several moments of silence, during which Sam did her best to level a hard stare at Terak, he spoke again. "Very well. We shall do this your way. You had a chance to stop any further harm from befalling anyone... Kree! Deta ni tanal!" His last words were addressed to a jaffa that stood at the door. Sam could hear his boots clattering as he ran off to do his masters bidding. Which, thanks to Daniel’s knowledge of Goa’uld, they both understood all to well.

Bring the girl.

Sam couldn’t help the shocked expression on her face. The evil smile quickly returned in response, growing even bigger than before.

**Girl? What’s going on? What’s he doing?** Sam was frantic.

//I don’t know, but it can’t be good.// Daniel was just as unnerved as she was. What did a girl have to do with anything? What was going to happen?

Moments later she heard the jaffa reenter. Sam craned her head to try and see, but her guards were in the way.

"Patience." Terak ordered in a playful tone. Fear, anger, and frustration were all warring inside of her. Just what the hell did this guy have planned?

He waved the jaffa over. As he came forward at his master’s insistence, Sam caught sight of the girl, his gauntlet covered hand resting on her shoulder.

Long brown hair obscured her downcast face. A coarse dress of light earth tones came down below her knees. Sam noticed that her feet were bare. She was about 5’5", the short sleeves of her dress revealing slender arms. Aware of the scrutiny, the girl finally raised her head. Sam’s heart stopped. Eyes wide with fear and bright with tears that were silently running down her face, the girl was obviously terrified. She could be no more than 15, Sam decided.

The way that Goa’uld could so callously use children for their own means was just too much. Even though she wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, all the horrifying images running through her and Daniel’s collective head made her want to snap Terak’s neck. They already had a good idea of the possibilities from the examples of Cassandra and Ryac. If only she were stronger and not held by two jaffa, she’d kill him.

Daniel agreed with that sentiment, but wished that there was a viable solution. Wishes only went so far, and in this case, not far enough.

"Oh, the look upon your face is most satisfying. But, that is not what I am after. I will give you this one final chance to tell me now, and save everyone." He was having way too much fun, Sam decided. Her face narrowed in anger.

"I can’t tell you what I don’t know!" Sam screamed at him hopelessly, her tones echoing throughout the chamber. The girl’s startled jump didn’t go unnoticed. She would have told him. If she actually believed that he would hold to his words, and if she actually knew anything, she would have told him in an instant. But she knew just how far a Goa’uld’s promise went.

"No doubt your host is responsible for your audacity. Allowing such a primitive creature to have sway over your actions will only serve to corrupt your mind. That is the problem with the Tok’ra, you are all mad. If you had any sense at all, you would lock its mind up where it belongs. Nothing good comes out of allowing such a primitive creature any power."

Sam didn’t know how to respond to that. It definitely wasn’t what she had expected him to say. She couldn’t help but look at him with surprise. The statement seemed very random. Was he going off on a tangent?

"What you require is a body that will be more pliable to your will. Maybe then you will be better able to see reason. Your host is also damaged, and it would be a shame were something to happen to you. This is for your benefit." Terak stated. The ease of his words belied the cruelty behind them.

//Oh my god!// Both she and Daniel got it at the same time. What he suggested wasn’t for anyone’s benefit but his own. She really wanted to kill him.

"You can’t be serious!" Sam responded in disbelief, her resonating tone raising in pitch. How could he?

"I am very serious. You will change hosts now." Terak commanded, his tone hardening.

"No!" Sam stated resolutely. She would NOT do that to anybody. The girl still hadn’t spoken a word, but the silent tears continued, along with a terrified look that broke Sam’s heart. Daniel was speechless.

"Take her now!" the Goa’uld shouted at her, the girl jumping again.

She refused to put that girl through the pain she had went through, through what every unwilling host had to live with. She simply couldn’t. "I won’t!"

"If you do not, she will suffer a most excruciating end, of this I promise." Terak narrowed his eyes and spoke levelly. The even tone drove the words in deeper than yelling them ever could.

"I don’t know anything! I can’t tell you what I don’t know! You’re wasting your time!" Sam shouted at the top of her lungs, tears threatening to fall from her own eyes. She begged him with her eyes to see reason.

**Anything but this!** She cried inwardly.

"My patience grows thin. Leave him now if you wish her to live!"

//Sam...// Daniel began.

**You CAN’T be serious!** How could Daniel even suggest it? Sam was mortified.

//If you don’t, she’ll die. Of everything he’s said, that’s the only thing I believe he’s telling the truth about.// Daniel defended.

**How can you ask me to do that to someone?** He had to know what he was asking. Sha’re had been taken by a Goa’uld. She herself had been possessed against her will. Daniel had to have some idea of what that was like for someone. How could he not?

//It’s to save HER life. You’re not a Gould. You’re not a misguided Tok’ra. Doing it would be for her benefit, not your own. You can help her through it.//

God damn it, why did he have to make sense? She didn’t want him to be right in the least. Because if he was right, then she’d have to do it. But no matter how hard she tried to come up with reasons against it, he was making sense.

**Even if I wanted to, I still don’t know what I’m doing. I could kill her. I could kill YOU.** Sam still tried desperately to think of reasons against it. Terak could even kill him afterwards, why would he need Daniel around after the deed?

//At least there would be a chance. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself anyway if someone died because I wasn’t willing to take a chance. You feel the same way, I know it. This is a horrible situation, but you have to try.//

He was right. Would to God that he wasn’t. How could she even think about doing this to someone? Despite their current relations with the Tok’ra, Sam still couldn’t make herself comfortable with becoming a host ever again. She doubted she ever could. Now she was going to put someone through a similar situation. And somehow she had found justification for it!

She’d have to tear out of Daniel’s flesh, and then into the girl’s. To save the girl she’d have to hurt them both. As if that wasn’t horrific enough, she’d then had to invade her mind. Of course, there was the ever-present possibility that she could screw something up, or that Daniel would be too weak. One or both could die from her actions. One WOULD die if she didn’t, if not both.

She lowered her head in defeat. Even with the support Daniel gave her, Sam couldn’t feel any worse about what she was going to do. Her words were barely audible, no real tone to them but the resonance that always existed. "I’ll do it."

Terak’s anger disappeared in a flash, to be replaced by a smug, victorious smile. "I never doubted."

*

Daniel quickly found himself in control of his body, little good that it did him. He was surrounded by Sam’s doubts and fears, wishing he could do something to dispel them. The problem was, he didn’t know any more than she did. Daniel just knew they had to try. He also knew that this would hurt Sam worst of all.

"Bring the girl forward. I will allow you to perform the implantation as the Tok’ra seem to prefer. It is the least I can do." Daniel glowered at the Gould, willing his coy words to strangle him. Sadly, they didn’t comply.

The girl gasped as the jaffa brought her within a foot of Daniel’s face. Softening his expression, trying to calm the girl down, as futile as that may be, he felt Sam stiffen in the back of his neck. Her resolve was faltering, not that there had been much of it to begin with.

//Sam, you have to.// he warned, forcing every bit of encouragement he could into the words. This poor girl shouldn’t be forced into such a position. But since she was, it was up to them to protect her as much as they could.

Sam’s thoughts dwelled on having to break through flesh before attaining the final, terrifying goal. Blood. His blood. The girl’s blood. The trickle of blood on Rosha’s lip. The images flashed by at breakneck speed, blurring together. She was comparing this moment to the memory of Jolinar, and to her distraught mind there seemed no difference.

//You’re not doing this for yourself. This would help her, otherwise she WILL die.// He didn’t like putting this sort of pressure on her, but there was no other way. Sam had to do this. The guilt, if she didn’t, would destroy her.

Terak’s patience wouldn’t last much longer.

**Daniel.** the thought was both a plea and a signal. A plea for this not to be necessary. A signal that if it WAS going to happen, it had better be soon before she lost what nerve she had left.

"Open your mouth, child. Your god commands it." Terak ordered.

The girl slowly complied, trembling visibly.

"It’s ok." Daniel spoke softly, his words barely loud enough for the girl to catch.

//Now.// he prompted. Sam hesitated, daunted by the fear that radiated from the girl.

Her actions were so sudden that even Daniel was caught by surprise. His connection with Sam diminished as tendrils began retracting. While he could still feel her, he could tell that the actions were sloppy, that she had difficulty commanding her body to move, the mechanics not at all like a human body. She was striking out blind, not sure what she was supposed to do.

Then he couldn’t feel her anymore. Not mentally, that is. He could feel her shifting along his spine. Daniel imagined Sam trying to prepare herself for what was to come. The damage she was going to cause would be significant, and he knew she didn’t want to cause pain. Unfortunately, there was no way around it.

Daniel opened his own mouth, and consciously willed it to stay so as Sam began squirming in earnest. He couldn’t help but gag as she broke through, blood running down his throat. He saw as the girl gave a startled cry in response to his violent reaction, held in place by the jaffa, mouth reopened by a stern command from Terak. The sensation wasn’t unlike vomiting as he felt her slithering into his mouth, the action lengthened by her lack of coordination. Daniel continued to retch as she finally ran across his tongue, the coppery taste of blood mixed with a disgusting, but unidentifiable tang of her flesh.

The girl’s wide eyes got even bigger as she watched the symbiote crawl out of Daniel. He could imagine the blood that was smeared along Sam’s body. If she hadn’t been held in place, Daniel knew that she would have bolted long ago. This was going to be hard on everyone. He willed that this experience, assuming they all lived through it, wasn’t too much for any of them to work through.

Despite his mental preparations, he wasn’t ready for the sight of a bloodied symbiote, covered in his blood, launching through the air, the wispy screech filling the room for an instant. Sam was in his head for two weeks, but all that time he had never had to look at her. To see a snake and know that it was Sam... he just didn’t know how to react, as he hadn’t figured it was going to be necessary. At that moment he realized he had never fully accepted it. The fact that before he COULDN’T see her had made it possible for him to think it hadn’t really happened on some subconscious level that neither of them had recognized.

The girl’s screams snapped Daniel back into the moment. Tears were once again coursing down her face as she fought the jaffa that held her. Sam had completely disappeared by then, smeared blood on the girl’s face the only evidence of her travels. And the screaming. The keening wail became even more frantic and carnal, gagging and coughing against the flow of blood making the cry even more heart wrenching. Daniel tried to will calmness and strength to both Sam and the girl, her violent reaction reminding him of the blood trickling down his own throat.

Fatigue hit him like a ton of bricks, and Daniel was just able to catch the flash of the girl’s eyes before he saw no more.

Her wail followed him into unconsciousness.

*

Sam had NO idea what she was doing, and even less of a desire to do it. The girl’s screams had vibrated through her as she tore through the back of her mouth. Both her and Daniel’s gagging had squeezed at her like a vice, the pain barely registering through the myriad emotions that filled her. Horror was one of the main ones, followed closely by fear and guilt. Horror at the act she was doing. Fear that she would screw it up. Guilt that she was even doing it in the first place.

She was almost there, and she had no idea what to do next.

The girls cries continued, cries caused by her. How could this possibly help if it caused so much pain and distress?

Because the girl would still be alive, she answered herself. They’d find a way to escape, and at that very moment she would leave. She’d make the girl suffer her presence no longer than necessary to ensure her survival. Even if there wasn’t someone else. Sam didn’t WANT to go through this again, whether the person was willing or not.

How was she supposed to know how to thread herself into the brain? Wrapping around the spine was easy enough, but this last part was something entirely different. Mistakes could be extremely costly.

Suddenly Sam saw a young man, short dirty-blond hair and a nervous smile on his face. Jolinar’s first host. Melik, her mind supplied. Jolinar was still larval, Tok’ra not having the benefit of jaffa to incubate within until they matured. Egeria, the queen responsible for the creation of the Tok’ra, held her progeny in an outstretched hand.

Sam watched on as the vision showed Jolinar entering the man, and weaving herself within. She strained her mind to remember every detail of the moment. Then she willed herself to follow the mental instructions, something that would be instinctual for a symbiote. Instincts that her transformation apparently neglected to give her.

Actually moving was harder than remembering where to move. Humans only had two arms, four appendages all told. There were more tendrils than she cared to count, and keeping them all straight in her head was a chore. The distraction of the girl’s wailing made it that much harder.

Like turning on a light, suddenly she could feel the girl. Sam found herself, not at all deliberately, in control. Her eyes flashed. Sam didn’t have proof, it wasn’t like she could actually see it, she simply knew that they did. Immediately, she stepped back, and the fearful girl continued her screams.

Alahn, a memory or a thought, Sam couldn’t be sure which, supplied. It was the girl’s name. Nothing else was intelligible, just garbled thoughts. Terror was the only thing Sam could make out with any certainty.

**I’m so sorry, Alahn. You don’t deserve this.**

Sam pushed herself as far back as she possibly could. She didn’t look at the jumbled thoughts that ran through the poor girls head, deciding that though she had to take Alahn, no one said that she had to take control of her. Alahn continued to cry, now speaking unintelligible words of her native language between sobs. Though Sam tried to isolate herself as much as being tethered to her brain would allow, she couldn’t ignore all of it.

Some of the words she was able to catch, deciphered by the thoughts that ran parallel to them. ‘Demon’ and ‘punishment’ appeared in the jumbled mess numerous times.

Sam didn’t have a reply.

"Tok’ra, stop this creatures pitiful display." Terak bellowed to be heard over the cries of Alahn, weakening only because the girl didn’t have the strength to continue at their former strength.

Memories of the Nasyan and herself washed over Sam, both held prisoners in their own minds. She wouldn’t do it to Alahn, not for one second.

"You dare to continue to test me? Return the other to the cell, if it survives, we will deal with it." Terak’s frustration was evident. One of the guards picked up Daniel’s limp form, Sam hoping against hope that he’d be alright, and carried him out of the room over his shoulder.

Terak continued to command her to stop, shouting and screaming, but Sam refused to do anything. Alahn was too hysteric to comply, even if he was ‘her god.’

How long it went on for, Sam couldn’t guess.

*

The instant that the door was opened and Daniel Jackson was tossed into the cell, Teal’c was beside him. O’Neill could only sit up stiffly, head still throbbing from the prolonged assault of a ribbon device. Teal’c turned the archaeologist onto his back, at first unable to see anything but the blood that had trickled down the man’s chin.

The telltale sensation that he should have felt wasn’t there.

"I do not sense a symbiote." Teal’c stated, his words hurried, hinting at his agitation.

"What?" O’Neill responded, pulling himself towards the injured man.

"Major Carter is no longer within Daniel Jackson." The immediate thought that ran through Teal’c’s head was that she was dead. Terak, no doubt reaching the limit of his patience, must have ended the life of his friend.

His fist slammed against the hard floor, a numb sensation spreading across his hand.

"Daniel?" the Colonel asked, bringing a hand up to check his pulse.

"I believe the bleeding has stopped, O’Neill." As far as Teal’c could tell, opening Daniel Jackson’s mouth, that was the case. The pallor of his face, however, left something to be desired. Pale skin contrasted starkly with the dark stone color of the floor, a light sheen of sweat reflecting the dim light.

"Where are the marines when you need ‘em?" Though O’Neill often made jokes at SG-3’s expense, he realized the marines’ effectiveness in combat. Of course at this point, neither of them were very picky as to WHO came to the rescue, so long as someone did come. Before anyone else was lost.

Teal’c stared intently at the injured man before him, wishing that they could do SOMETHING to help him. Without supplies, food, or even water, all they could do was watch and hope that he’d be ok. Much like O’Neill, Teal’c was a doer, and with nothing to do he could only sit as his anger boiled around him. What he wouldn’t have done for the chance to teach Terak the true meaning of a slow and painful death. During his time with Apophis, Teal’c had learned many things he WOULD wish on his worst enemy, and was more than willing to show this Goa’uld a few of them.

But it wasn’t an option, at least not a viable one. He was mostly healed, but even a symbiote couldn’t cure everything overnight. Unarmed and wounded against an unknown number of jaffa wouldn’t get him very far, definitely not far enough for Teal’c to achieve his desires. That fact only caused his anger to rise. He and his friends had been hurt, and he was powerless to do anything about it.

Teal’c didn’t like being powerless. He hit the ground again, one of the bones in his hand giving way. Using the sharp pain as a vent, he expelled the anger from himself. As Master Bra’tak had taught, anger would only cause sloppiness in battle. Teal’c couldn’t afford such mistakes, nor could O’Neill or Daniel Jackson.

Craning his head, Teal’c listened to a strange noise coming from the hall outside. At first he couldn’t make out the sound, but as it got louder he could hear the sobbing for what it was. He saw O’Neill’s head perk moments later, only just picking up the sound.

Neither had any idea who it was. Teal’c could tell that it was feminine, but as of yet they had seen no women, only Terak and his jaffa. To the Colonel’s questioning gaze he could only raise his eyebrow.

The door soon opened, and the source of the sobbing was roughly shoved inside. The girl stumbled several steps before regaining balance, her sobs dying down to gasping sniffles. When she looked around and settled her gaze on Teal’c, and respectively his tattoo, she screamed. Clawing at the door, she cried hoarsely in a language Teal’c had never heard before. Determining that her pleas were getting her nowhere, the girl quickly skirted into the farthest corner, curling herself up and not taking her eyes off of him.

Teal’c could only stare back, dumbfounded, trying to make sense of her presence. She looked like any of countless primitive humans maintained by the Goa’uld. Terak must have a colony on this planet, he determined. Her fear of him was understandable, obviously identifying him as a jaffa and therefore, most likely, an enemy. But why would a slave suddenly be put in with them? It didn’t make sense.

There was something else, but he couldn’t quite place it.

"We do not wish to harm you." Teal’c told her in his gentlest tone, his voice pleasantly deep. The girl shrunk deeper into the corner, not swayed by his words. Whether she actually understood what he said, he didn’t know.

The idea that he was missing something plagued Teal’c. Something very obvious. Unable to shake it, he got up. The girl’s eyes widened, checking the room again for a retreat that didn’t exist. "Do not be afraid."

Walking closer, the feeling intensified. It coalesced into a sort of tingling along his spine. Things were starting to make sense.

"Major Carter?" he asked.

"Teal’c?" O’Neill questioned.

"She carries a symbiote."

"Could be any snake." Teal’c could tell that O’Neill hoped it wasn’t just any snake, but had to point out the possibility. Teal’c was already aware that could be so, but doubted that it was any other.

He had never known a Goa’uld to take anyone quite so young, and most certainly not one that didn’t bring their host under control.

But there was no response to his query, which caused Teal’c to frown. Was the symbiote Major Carter, or another? Why didn’t it respond?

*

The servant continued to look at her, his expression pleading for something. He was big and dark with a golden symbol. The servant that had killed her father had been big and dark with a golden symbol. He was going to kill her too, and she wouldn’t be able to get away.

Something inside told her that he wouldn’t hurt her. He had said so himself, but trusting the gods or their servants only brought trouble. Why did she believe him then?

That thing! That thing that had shot inside of her mouth, tearing into her. She swore she could still taste the blood in her mouth from it... her, something corrected, slithering into her throat. Pain and blood in ample qualities. Something was inside of her that wasn’t meant to be. Thoughts that weren’t hers kept running through her head.

**Shouldn’t have done it.** She didn’t understand the thought. It wasn’t hers, yet it floated in her head as surely as if it was. That creature, she, Sam, she could hear her. If she listened, she could hear everything. She expected angry, evil thoughts, like she imagined the god Terak having. He called himself a god, but her people knew better. He was a demon, but not a god.

These thoughts were anything but evil, somber and regretful were more apt descriptions. Still, Alahn was afraid of searching them out, afraid that maybe Sam wasn’t as non-threatening as her thoughts suggested. Actively reaching for these thoughts might anger her.

**I’m not going to do anything to you.** she could talk to her? How did she talk back?

**Just think it.**

//What are you? Why are you in me?// Punishment, from Terak. He must have heard her curse his name but a moon ago. All this because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

**I am a symbiote. I won’t let anyone harm you.** That didn’t sound like punishment, to be protected. She found herself believing the thoughts. Somehow, she couldn’t explain it, she knew that they were true.

She saw Sam entering her through her eyes, feeling the revulsion she had felt to be forced to do such a thing.

//Then, this is your punishment?// Alahn felt herself getting angry. This happened to her to punish something else? She wanted to curse Terak’s name again, but he was so close now that there was no way he wouldn’t hear her, even in her thoughts. So she didn’t even allow herself to think it.

**Terak is not a god, or a demon. He’s a living creature like you or me or anyone else.**

//How can he be? He has tormented my people for countless generations!// Alahn denied it vehemently. Though she felt that Sam was telling her the truth, she couldn’t accept that a simple being had tormented her people for so long. It was too much to bear.

Her father had been a strong man, surely only a god or its servant could kill him.

**I know this is a lot for you, but it’s true.** 

//You know? You know nothing!//

Alahn wasn’t prepared for the violent reaction, the anger and frustration. A memory rushed through her. It was of a blond woman, a symbiote much like Sam in her own head. This woman had been trapped in her mind, the creature trying to convince her that its intentions were good, even as it threatened to kill her friends.

**I know more than anyone should have to.** With that thought Alahn realized that the woman was Sam.

//You are human?// she didn’t know what else to say.

**I used to be.** as Sam continued to cool down, Alahn felt her guilt at the outburst.

//So, Terak is like you?// her eyes bulged in surprise as Sam flinched, unsettled by the comparison.

**He’s a symbiote.** was the cautious reply. From Sam’s thoughts she saw that there were good symbiotes and evil symbiotes. Tok’ra and Goa’uld were attached to these concepts.

This was a lot for her to take in. She needed the information to stop coming for a moment so she could try to comprehend what was already before her. Looking at the unconscious man that Sam identified as Daniel, she decided to change the subject.

"Is he going to be ok?" Alahn asked the other two men for Sam’s benefit. Her voice was raspy from the combined effects of screaming and the wound she had received from the... blending. Ok, that thought was a bit unsettling. Remembering something burrowing inside of oneself was never a pleasant thought. And she was trying to dodge these thoughts for a little while.

Apparently, neither was expecting the words. Teal’c recovered from the shock first, though. "Daniel Jackson will require food and water. His condition will only worsen without these things. What has transpired?"

Alahn didn’t remember much for details, since she was too busy screaming herself hoarse. Then it had seemed only practical, but now she saw how useless it had been. Thankfully she realized she didn’t have to give a very detailed account. "One of the god’s... Terak’s servants took me when I was away from the village. He took me here, where we are forbidden to go. He commanded that Sam... take me or he’d have me killed." What she didn’t remember, Sam supplied for her.

"And you are?" the Colonel, Jack, asked.

"Alahn."

"Carter’s in you?" Why didn’t Sam think of him as Jack?

**We’re in the military.**

//But you think of Daniel as just Daniel, and Teal’c as Teal’c.//

**They aren’t in the military.** she didn’t understand it, why this military would make any difference. But it wasn’t thoughts about having a creature in her head, so she welcomed the distraction.

//Well, I prefer Jack.// Alahn informed her, surprised at the playfulness in her words. Sam’s mood even lightened a little, which was very surprising to them both.

"She is." Alahn couldn’t help the slight smile that appeared on her own face.

"You seem pretty calm about recent events." He continued, almost accusingly.

At the moment she was, but who knew if it would last. Right now she was able to handle it by not thinking about it, which became more difficult with this sort of question posed to her.

"I don’t know." She replied. Maybe some of it also had to do with her expecting worse. The stories told about what happens to those who go into the forbidden territory had described many gruesome things, none of them ending in the person surviving. She was still alive, and more or less intact. It was more than she could have hoped for.

Whether things stayed that way, however, was a different story.

*

A long silence ensued, during which the cell door was cracked open, and a tray containing a pitcher of water and a bowl of some unidentifiable gray sludge was slid in haphazardly. Sam watched as Teal’c reacted quickly, grabbing the pitcher before it could spill. The bowl didn’t fare so well, some of its contents sloshing over the edge, the thin goop running down the side.

The water had been nice; it was clean and cool. Most had been given to Daniel, who had groggily woken up for a few minutes before promptly returning to the land of the dead. He was quite literally awake just long enough to drink his portion, falling asleep in the middle of a question. He hadn’t even finished the first word, which Sam was sure would have been ‘what,’ while Alahn argued that it would have been ‘where.’

The slop, however, was a completely different story. They passed around the bowl, Alahn and the Colonel only managing a few mouthfuls before the threat of the concoction making a return visit forced them to stop. As hungry as they may be, their stomachs still couldn’t handle anything that disgusting, there weren’t even words to describe it. Teal’c, though, was able to eat a hearty portion with seemingly no ill effects.

How, in the course of an hour, could things go from complete and utter chaos and hysterics to easy banter? There was definitely some sort of denial responsible, but at the moment it made things easier, so who were they to complain? With the way their luck was running, they could use all the ‘easier’ they could get.

The door slid open, revealing two jaffa. They beckoned Alahn with their weapons. Alahn looked up with shock, though it wasn’t really so much of one that she was picked. Sam had figured that it would happen, and Alahn had agreed to her logic, which sadly was correct.

Sam tried to calm the girl. Panicking wouldn’t do any good. Sucking in a shaky breath, Alahn stood up and left the room in front of the guards. The walk to their destination seemed to drag on. Sam did all she could to bolster Alahn’s spirits, but it was a difficult task when she herself was afraid. Just what would this creature do to her? She was just a girl.

//I’m 16 as of last mooncycle, recognized as a woman among my people.// she corrected, partially out of pride, but mostly to distract herself. The technicality didn’t make Sam feel any better about the situation.

They were brought to a room that definitely was not the throne room. Sam would have thanked heaven for that small favor, glad to pass up the reminders that place would give her, were this room more inviting. Manacles on the walls and torches in the corner, it was far from the most pleasant setting she had ever seen before.

//What’s going to happen?// The jaffa shackled Alahn to a side wall. Once done, they quickly exited the room.

**I’m not sure.** pain stick, ribbon device, or something else, she couldn’t say. All Sam was sure of was that it would hurt.

She felt Alahn’s face lose it’s color.

**I can take control, it might make this easier.** Sam was hesitant, still afraid of the implications, but her desire to protect Alahn as much as possible won out. The girl agreed.

Just as Sam asserted herself, Terak entered the room.

"Are you prepared to answer my questions now?" he asked immediately, his overly pleasant tone was soured by the resonance.

//Serat, serat, tonana tel molana felif.// Leave, leave, gods drive the demon away. Alahn’s ward didn’t have the desired result.

"As I have said before, I can’t tell you what I don’t know." Her dual tones were higher in pitch now that she was in the body of a woman, enhanced even more so by her age. Alahn mentally reeled at the sound.

//How do you do that?//

**I have no idea. It just happens.**

"Tell me!" Terak raised his arm threateningly, the jewel growing a brilliant orange.

"I can’t!" Sam instinctively closed her eyes against what she knew was to come. It wasn’t what she had anticipated though. He moved, aiming for the side of the neck instead of the forehead. She didn’t see this, so was completely unprepared for the beam actually hitting her, and not Alahn.

It hurt like nothing she had ever felt before. Sam had been under a ribbon device before, but it had never been this bad. She couldn’t maintain control, the pain wouldn’t be ignored. She writhed, unable to stop herself, tossing to try to escape the beam.

"Stop it!" Alahn screamed, pulling at her bonds. Sam was unable to think or register anything but the searing pain.

Finally remembering her feet weren’t restrained, Alahn kicked out forcefully, her blow landing solidly between his legs, causing Terak to double over.

"Impudent whelp!" he yelped, several octaves higher than his normal voice. After recovering slightly he re-aimed the device at her, sending the agonizing energy into the girl’s skull.

Unable to do anything to stop it, Sam felt unconsciousness pulling at her. It had hardly been ten minutes and she was going to pass out, a fact that frustrated her to no end. Alahn wasn’t too far behind.

\--

Sam felt herself being pulled along. Cracking open her eyes she made out the dark passage and the two men that held her. The moment was a fleeting one, oblivion hard pressed to let her escape its clutches.

A crack of light ran across the corridor. Bright white against the bleary oranges and yellows of firelight, the sunlight couldn’t be mistaken. As they dragged her past, she watched the jaffa who had entered through the door before it slid shut.

Not believing her luck, Sam forced herself to remember that little piece of information as darkness descended once more.

*

Daniel was amazed when he was able to keep his eyes open for more than a minute. For the past hour or so he had been drifting in and out, only able to remain conscious for an instant. It had taken most of that instant to gather the strength to do anything but stare, so communication had been a bit of a problem.

When he realized that he wasn’t immediately sinking back into nothingness, he quickly shot off the question that had been plaguing him each time. "Where’s Sam?"

"With Terak." Jack replied.

That wasn’t good. He felt decidedly awkward when no response to his thought was forthcoming. Empty was a good description, Daniel decided. It had only been two weeks but already in that time he had grown accustomed to the extra voice in his head. Already he missed the constant banter. Though there were two other people in the room, he still felt alone.

"The girl?"

"She seemed to be doing surprisingly well." Teal’c informed him. Daniel didn’t really understand that, she wasn’t doing well at all from what he remembered. But apparently he had been wrong, or something had changed awfully fast.

"Really?" Daniel replied, partially in disbelief. He wasn’t asleep yet, but energy wasn’t something Daniel had an abundance of at the moment, that fact showing in the yawn that accompanied the word.

"Indeed." Teal’c’s reply, though one word, was laced with such deep meaning. He said it in such a way that Daniel was sure that Teal’c was aware of his confusion, and agreed it was a strange happenstance. Apparently he hadn’t been totally wrong...

The door opened, the suddenness of it not really surprising anymore, and the girl was thrown in. Teal’c had been standing nearby, so he was able to catch her before she collided with the unyielding floor.

Daniel tried to sit up, and instantly regretted it. The world spun before his eyes, and he fell back, nausea threatening.

"Are they ok?" he instantly asked, since he couldn’t check on it for himself.

"Alahn is unconscious." Teal’c answered.

"Sweet." Jack replied as he approached.

"Can you tell what happened?"

"They appear to have been tortured by a ribbon device."

"Damn it!" a resonating tone announced, filled with pain, though not quite conscious.

"Carter?" Jack asked.

Daniel managed to lever on his side, able to see at least some of the proceedings. Sam took several moments to come to at the question, blinking her eyes blearily.

"Door." She stated.

"Excuse me?" Jack retorted.

"What?" she asked in confusion, her voice beginning to lose the sleepy quality as she came to.

"You tell me. Something about a door."

She thought about it long and hard. "I don’t rem... there was a door between here and the room they took me to. It leads outside." Even with the tones of a symbiote, the satisfaction in her voice at remembering was plainly audible.

From his position, Daniel could see Jack’s eyes perk up. There was something in his expression that Daniel couldn’t quite figure out from his obscured position.

"How’s Alahn?" Daniel asked, using the name that Teal’c had provided.

"Still out." Sam seemed to be taking it well too. Apparently everyone had undergone a transformation during his impression of sleeping beauty.

*

A door. A way out. Jack couldn’t let this one pass. They had a chance to escape. Someone could bring back help for the others. Leave it to the Gould to make stupid design errors in their buildings.

"Anyone who gets taken should find that door and make a break if they can." Jack announced.

"Sir!" Carter cried out in protest.

"Whoever can manage it should immediately try to locate the Stargate and get a rescue team for the others. One might already be on the way, but it isn’t a guarantee. We need to do our part."

"What about the others?"

"Will be here waiting for the rescue or trying to get out on their own." Since he had no idea where here was, chances were the rescue team wouldn’t either. The UAV hadn’t shown this building, warning bells would have gone off then, so it was unlikely anyone would stumble across it. Which meant they needed someone to guide the team. Of course, that also depended on the person being able to locate the ‘gate.

One bridge at a time. It was the best idea they had, and the only way any of them were going to get out of here.

Teal’c inclined his head in understanding, Daniel was in no condition to do it, so he didn’t apply, and Sam reluctantly acknowledged that it was the best option they had open to them. He could understand her feelings, he didn’t want to leave anyone behind here, either. Terak would be ripped if he found out someone had escaped.

Assuming they got that far.

They just had to hope for the best, for whoever got the opportunity. "Rest up people, we’re gonna have to be at our best."

*

Sam had managed quite a nap when the door opened. Alahn was also awake, both still working to overcome the lingering effects of the ribbon device. Basically it had dulled to the point of a persisting headache and a bit of dizziness. One guard stood in the doorway, beckoning her forward.

The moment of truth. Sam got up slowly, closing her eyes to keep from falling back down again. At the prompting of the jaffa she picked up her pace, giving the others one last look before she was pushed down the hall.

Even if she did get out the door and find the Stargate, Terak may not leave anything behind for her to get rescue for.

She was pushed forward by the impatient guard, one that she hadn’t seen before. He hadn’t opened his weapon, she noted when he had taken her. Stupid on his part, not that she was going to tell him that. Since she didn’t know exactly where the door was, she looked for hints on the wall, a seam or anything that would tell her that a door existed there. With the dim light it was exceptionally difficult to tell.

Finally she saw a panel on the wall. Apparently it wasn’t a secret door after all. Noting that there were no other guards in sight, and hoping the same held true for when she got out, she made her move. The jaffa had his staff held against her back. Sam spun around, pushing the weapon away from her body and pulling it out of his grasp, catching the jaffa entirely by surprised. She then rammed the butt of the weapon against his face as hard as she could, not waiting to find out whether it killed or just incapacitated.

Even before his body had fallen to the floor she was working on the door. She just pressed the symbol on the nearby panel that, through a lot of experience, she recognized as the door mechanism. The door opened. There wasn’t even a lock on it, which Sam just couldn’t understand, nor did she take the time to really care. She had to get away before someone noticed, or else it didn’t matter whether or not the stupid door had had a lock.

Deciding that the extra weight of the staff weapon wouldn’t be worth its presence, she left it in front of the door. The only way she would get out would be to outrun them, not get caught up in a firefight.

Unfortunately, taking in her surroundings in the dwindling light of early evening, Sam realized that she had no idea what direction the ‘gate was in, and neither did Alahn.

**TBC**

  


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> A/N: FINALLY, it’s done. Sorry for the long wait, but I had some very serious things slam me in the face these few weeks. But here I am, back in action. Hopefully, further parts shouldn’t take so long. A tiny detail I forgot to mention (please don’t sue me anyone!!!), that the name Xel’naga isn’t original. Star Craft players know what I’m talking about. But, I’m only using the name, these are not the same guys from the game. Sorry that I forgot to mention this, especially to those at Blizzard, I LOVE YOUR GAMES (again, please don’t sue ;-P)! Would LOVE to hear what you think about this piece. PLEASE!!!! Huge thanx and lots of love to Kalliope for the beta. You’re the WOman! Once again, any mistakes continue to belong to me.

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>   
>  © July 2004 Not mine… No $. I’m just borrowing for a bit but I’ll give   
>  ‘em right back I swear.

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